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Episode 123

Perfection, Processes & Growth at Lazzaro’s Autobody

Episode Overview

In episode 123 of Blue Collar Startup, host Derek Foster welcomes back guest Josh Jewett for an in-depth conversation on his path from a Hudson Valley Community College auto-body student to owning Lazzaro’s Autobody and acquiring a second shop in Saratoga—all within six months. Josh shares hard-won lessons on perfectionism, implementing shop processes, mentoring his team, continuing education, and the mindset required to scale a blue-collar business.  

Connect with Josh by emailing him at jj@lazzarosautobody.com and check out Lazzaro’s Autobody in Green Island and Saratoga Springs, New York, or on their website at lazzarosautobody.com.

Time Stamps

0:00 Intro
0:15 Welcome to Blue Collar StartUp
1:04 Business owner group therapy
2:15 Help us grow the show
4:28 Patreon and business growth insights
5:36 Introducing Richard Ruzzo
6:14 What Shepherd Communication & Security does
8:03 Why security and low-voltage work is still a trade
11:58 Growing the company to 34 employees
13:11 Why trades can outperform traditional college paths
16:13 The garage business that sparked the idea
17:28 Landing their first telecom contract
18:36 Building the Shepherd brand
19:30 Why relying on one client is dangerous
20:45 Lifestyle business vs enterprise business
23:03 Rethinking the entire company strategy
24:38 Losing a major revenue stream
27:06 The people who helped transform the company
32:00 Landing a project 10x bigger than anything before
35:06 How Shepherd decides which services to offer
41:57 Why security matters more than ever today
43:00 Final thoughts and where to find Shepherd


Read the full transcript here

00;00;00;23 – 00;00;15;07
Unknown
Oh, hey. Oh, hey.

00;00;15;10 – 00;00;29;18
Speaker 2
welcome everybody to Blue Collar start up the podcast for hard work meets big ideas. This is your home for real talk real stories and real strategies from the frontlines of life in the business of the trades. I’m your host today, Derek from Daigle Cleaning Systems.

00;00;29;21 – 00;00;58;06
Speaker 2
Mike is tied up with a few things today. So, I’m going to cover our interview here. And we’re super excited to have our one of our first guest back, actually, from roughly four years ago. It’s hard to hard to believe, but, super excited and and we’ll get to, we’ll let Josh introduce himself here in a moment, but, wanted to take a second and remind everybody of our new episode formats and some of the the different programs that we have here running on on the show.

00;00;58;08 – 00;01;20;15
Speaker 2
Today is, an example of our interviews from the field where we bring on folks, in the blue collar trades, support businesses or folks who are current trades workers and let them share their story, tell how they began their journey and where they are now. We also started a new format, which we’ll actually have our first episode here airing in a couple of weeks.

00;01;20;17 – 00;01;41;11
Speaker 2
So around, women in the trades where we bring on, some of the, the hard working women in and around the blue collar trades, allow them to share their story and, and talk about their journey. Our Catamount roundtable, which is a lot about self-improvement and business development and safety. So we bring those guys on.

00;01;41;13 – 00;02;07;14
Speaker 2
Scott. Stacy. And Jason, we’re super, we’re super grateful to have them as big supporters of the show. They volunteer their time to come on and and give everybody some good information. And then, finally, our our. Let’s ask Bill or our lab episodes where Bill Tansey from the shop comes on, talks about a number of things, in regards to business ownership, and process development culture.

00;02;07;17 – 00;02;25;24
Speaker 2
Very, very informative. He is very, very good at what he does. And, the first couple episodes that we shot with him have been absolutely fantastic. So I encourage everybody, if you haven’t listened to, let’s ask Bill episode, please do a lot of good information in there. And as a final reminder, we have our Patreon side of the podcast.

00;02;25;26 – 00;02;42;25
Speaker 2
This is a separate segment towards the end of the show where we’ll ask our guests the series of, rapid fire questions that, you know, is not part of the original content. It’s a whopping $5 a month. So if you can spare that and and help us, help support the show, we greatly appreciate it.

00;02;42;28 – 00;03;03;07
Speaker 2
And as always, I want to thank our sponsors. For supporting what we’re doing and allowing us to, to do what? What we do here on the show, cover some of our production costs, as well as get back to, some of the trade schools and, support some of the students that are out there with our scholarship programs.

00;03;03;09 – 00;03;28;08
Speaker 2
Our current sponsors are People East, Martin Electric, MLB construction, Blasio Construction, Michaels Group, Catamount Consulting, the Northeast Construction Trades Workforce Coalition, My Team Over Table Cleaning Systems, Mike’s team over at Five Towers Media and Curtis Lumber who just joined us. Very recently. So thank you to all of our, our sponsors. Now to our our guests of the hour.

00;03;28;11 – 00;03;30;18
Speaker 2
Josh, how’s it going?

00;03;30;20 – 00;03;31;23
Speaker 1
Derek, how are you?

00;03;31;25 – 00;03;34;22
Speaker 2
I’m good. I’m doing well.

00;03;34;24 – 00;03;39;01
Speaker 1
The, mouthful that you had here prior to the last time I was here.

00;03;39;04 – 00;03;52;07
Speaker 2
It’s, I’ve been practicing. That’s, Yeah. You’re right. It has, It’s definitely grown a little bit, which we’re, we’re very grateful for and, lucky to be able to do this and, thanks for joining us today.

00;03;52;09 – 00;03;53;17
Speaker 1
Yeah. You’re welcome.

00;03;53;20 – 00;04;21;13
Speaker 2
So, as I mentioned, you were back on or you were on in 2022. And I know we reconnected recently and, you know, you you’ve grown quite a bit, on your journey. So why don’t you walk our listeners through, you know, kind of your path and and how you got into your business, what you do today, and, you know, some of the challenges that that come along with it.

00;04;21;15 – 00;04;54;04
Speaker 1
Sure. So, started out at a very young age, just being interested in cars. My family had a lot of involvement in the automotive field in mechanical. So growing up, my dad had a lot of cars at the, house and would tinker with things and was into them himself. So from an early age, I kind of got the spark to, be involved with automotive fixing and painting and, you know, touching that, touching up things make it all look better, brighter.

00;04;54;06 – 00;05;06;18
Speaker 1
So I guess from an early age, you know, prior to high school, even I’ve had an interest in cars and then pursued that after high school with, going to Hudson Valley.

00;05;06;20 – 00;05;08;13
Speaker 2
The blue collar college.

00;05;08;15 – 00;05;33;12
Speaker 1
Yeah. It is. So I did the Hudson Valley program, two year program the first year when I went was whether you were going to be an auto automotive mechanic or in the auto body trade. Back then, it was the same program. Today, it’s changed. But the first year we were rebuilding engines, rebuilding transmissions. And I quickly found that that wasn’t my interest.

00;05;33;14 – 00;05;54;24
Speaker 1
So I shifted the second year to the body program. That’s where I kind of fell in love with the transformation of things. I think what I like most about this business in the industry is you get to see your, the work you put in. So, you know, you take something that’s been in an accident or even refreshing the, paint job or whatever.

00;05;54;24 – 00;06;19;00
Speaker 1
You get to, at the end of the day, see what you’ve accomplished. So I like that side of it more so from there. I, through schooling, started working at a dealership, fixing cars, kind of as an apprentice. You know, I had a mentor that would. I’d work alongside of. So I was doing a lot of disassembly, reassembly and some minor things.

00;06;19;03 – 00;06;26;11
Speaker 1
And then, ultimately learning the bigger scope of work while still going through school.

00;06;26;13 – 00;06;46;12
Speaker 2
So when you go into that program and because I didn’t I don’t think we really asked this question before when we had some of the Hudson Valley students on. But you go in knowing nothing. What are some of the first things that they teach you, and how do you progress down that path throughout the schooling process?

00;06;46;14 – 00;07;11;16
Speaker 1
A lot of it is the fundamentals. So it’ll be, you know, introduction into suspension, introduction into electrical. So you build a circuit board with, you know, headlights, turn lights and switches, so you understand how basic electrical work, you know, goes into it, different types of suspension. So not every car has the same suspension.

00;07;11;18 – 00;07;32;01
Speaker 1
You know, there’s different styles, there’s different, configurations of whether it’s a strut or if it’s got, you know, leaf springs trucks or different in cars, things like that. So they, they give you a, original view, like you said, if somebody that doesn’t, you know, your kid, you don’t know all the internal, operations of a car.

00;07;32;01 – 00;07;59;23
Speaker 1
So they kind of give you entry level into every part of it. And then as you continue to learn, it gets more and more hands on, to where you get into, they, they have a quite a big shop there. And part of your scope of, work is in the lab. So I’d say before you graduate, it’s almost 50, 50, 50% of the time you’re in the lab, 50% of the time you’re in the classroom.

00;07;59;26 – 00;08;09;21
Speaker 2
So when you were, I guess when you were in school, was business ownership ever a goal of yours, or was that something that kind of developed later on?

00;08;09;23 – 00;08;36;12
Speaker 1
I think I, it’s always been in the back of my mind. I wouldn’t say it was in the forefront. My my intent, my thought at the time was to be a technician. I wanted to be a technician for a good amount of years, and then possibly eventually go into the office, you know, learn the estimating side of it and get some entry level business information and then potentially, maybe, business ownership.

00;08;36;12 – 00;08;54;17
Speaker 1
But ultimately, when I was going through that, my, my initial goal was just to be a tech. And then I wanted to be the best tech. So I wanted to be able to do everything. I didn’t want to be segmented into one, you know, side of the business or the other. I didn’t want to be just a painter.

00;08;54;19 – 00;09;23;07
Speaker 1
I didn’t want to be just a frame tech. I didn’t want to be, you know, I wanted to be overall the best. And so when I started out, that was my intent. And then that shifted about two years, three years in, when I was out of college, kind of shifted from being on the floor as a technician into the office faster than I thought I would.

00;09;23;09 – 00;09;47;22
Speaker 2
So what I heard you say was that you always wanted to be the best, which is very, very rare, I think, especially in in today’s society, it’s it’s, I guess, a mental, you know, mental strength, right? Like, you know, obviously you being an employer now, I’m sure you, you would love to have, you know, a dozen folks like that, I guess.

00;09;47;25 – 00;09;58;10
Speaker 2
Where does that drive or where did that motivation come from? Was that instilled in you, from an early age, or did you develop that over time?

00;09;58;12 – 00;10;25;15
Speaker 1
I’ve never, I’ve never thought about it. I have, a little bit of a personality disorder, probably, a touch of, OCD, I guess, very particular on details. Things that most people probably wouldn’t pick up on, stand out to me. So I think it’s more of a perfectionist mentality. And unfortunately, we work in an industry where to reach perfection is very difficult.

00;10;25;15 – 00;10;52;15
Speaker 1
There’s a lot of, moving parts, a lot of different people that are involved in one, one item. So you can’t, you’re not going to reach perfection unless you’re in like a lab environment where, you know, you’re restoring cars to a level that, you know, took 2 or 3 years to perfect. But ultimately, that’s my expectation every time is to as close to perfect as we can possibly get.

00;10;52;18 – 00;11;27;10
Speaker 1
And I think that’s, you know, something that similar to what you said. I’ve mentored a lot of younger students. Now, you know, being in my early 40s, where that’s something that I try to instill in them is if you’re going to do it, you might as well try to do it the best of your ability. Let’s not give it, you know, half a shot here, and then you’re ended up having to spend more time to try to make it appear better or, you know, no one, in my opinion, no one shows up to work wanting to do a bad job.

00;11;27;13 – 00;11;50;18
Speaker 1
I think that they come in with the, mindset or perhaps, you know, past experience where, well, that’s good enough. And for me, that doesn’t, doesn’t fly. And so once I notice that through, I try to, inject myself and try to really raise the bar and say, well, let’s let’s just, you know, let’s talk about this.

00;11;50;19 – 00;12;10;23
Speaker 1
Let’s get some more questions going. If we did this, that, or the other thing, or if we did these items in a different placement. So if we started here and ended here, would we have got a better result and really try to develop the staff to all have that same mentality where we’re always trying to strive to be best?

00;12;10;26 – 00;12;32;18
Speaker 2
What are some of the for other the younger folks, that do listen to the show, and who are striving to be the best that they can be in the trades. What are some of the intangible skills or some of the things that they can do on a daily basis that will help separate them from the rest of the group and help them to to move to, I guess, the overachiever.

00;12;32;20 – 00;12;55;06
Speaker 1
I think, advantage today that we didn’t have Derek is the internet. You know, I noticed, with my own kids, they’re young, but they know how to use YouTube. So if they’re looking, you know, trying to do something, and I’m not able to show them or give them attention before I know it, they talked into the remote and they got a YouTube video up, and they’re telling me they don’t need me to do it.

00;12;55;06 – 00;13;18;10
Speaker 1
They’ve already figured it out. So I think that the younger kids have so much information today that’s at their fingertips that perhaps it’s not between the hours of eight and four when they’re punching in on the clock, but when they go home and while they’re eating dinner, they could be watching a video on whether it’s plumbing, heating, cooling, whatever their their trade is.

00;13;18;12 – 00;13;50;10
Speaker 1
And learn things to get better. You know, you and I have discussed being a landlord doesn’t having to do with the podcast but very similar if if you’re paying everybody exponentially to do everything that needs to be done to an apartment building years, there’s not much left for for you to, have for cash flow. But if you take some time to learn some of these trades and it could be the most basic thing taking a toilet out, doing a wax ring, all these little things add up.

00;13;50;16 – 00;14;13;21
Speaker 1
And I find that that’s the same thing with, educating yourself for the younger kids today. Spend some time doesn’t have to be YouTube, but I find that to be. There’s a lot of good information on YouTube and I find myself on there often if there’s something that I don’t know how to do, and a lot of times it may be in a house project or something, but I’ll pick up some tricks and tips from YouTube and then look at that.

00;14;13;23 – 00;14;36;20
Speaker 1
I did it myself. So there’s got to be some self drive, right? You have to be self-motivated. No one’s going to tell you to go home it on your own time. And, you know, pick up YouTube or whatever it may be to educate yourself, but I think you found yourself when you started your business and similar for me, I spent there was no punch clock.

00;14;36;20 – 00;14;52;06
Speaker 1
Right? It was. I did my job. And then when I went home, I found other ways to do things to make myself better. And so ultimately, I think that that’s what the today’s students, you know, they have that leaps and bounds over you and me.

00;14;52;08 – 00;15;14;15
Speaker 2
Yeah, I totally agree with you. And that’s very good advice. I actually just went through that this week. We’re doing a window cleaning project actually, this weekend that, something we haven’t done before. It’s a little bit of a challenge, and, I task start our team with coming up with with the solution. And it turns out, you know, after some fumbling around that we already have the solution that’s sitting here in our warehouse and, yeah.

00;15;14;16 – 00;15;14;26
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;15;15;02 – 00;15;28;29
Speaker 2
But it took a little bit of encouraging in me, you know, pushing to, to go and and learn how to, to do that and how to get it done the best way possible. But again, all off of, YouTube and the resources that are available out there. So. Yeah.

00;15;29;03 – 00;15;48;18
Speaker 1
And I think that that’s for any trade, you know, and even for somebody that’s just wants to dabble in something, there’s so much information that you can find now that’s free that, you know, I don’t want to date myself, but I don’t think we really had much internet. Even when I was at Hudson Valley, it may have been just becoming a thing or a little bit.

00;15;48;18 – 00;16;12;03
Speaker 1
Maybe, you could probably any of Google was available at the time. It was probably more, you know, the, the, first things that came out of the internet. So, today’s student, I think if they’re, they apply themselves on their own time and I’m not, you know, I don’t punch in and I don’t punch out. There’s not, you know, and I’m no different than you.

00;16;12;05 – 00;16;33;25
Speaker 1
But that’s what made me different is, you know, putting in the time and the effort that no one sees. Right. And stuff. It’s a quiet growth. It’s the growth you’re doing when no one’s watching you and when no one’s, you know, asking you to do something. And then it’s a little by little over time, they’re like, geez, you know, Derek seems different.

00;16;33;28 – 00;16;56;08
Speaker 1
He’s now off doing, you know, whatever. But meanwhile you’re you’re investing in all that time on your own. And so I think that those are, vital really to the blue collar. To become, you know what, you want to be the best, but you want to be always striving to be, you know, better today than yesterday.

00;16;56;10 – 00;17;11;23
Speaker 2
Yeah. And, you know, I think that that also ties into and we’ve had a couple of guests on the show that have been, you know, pretty open and honest about, you know, some have gone to college, some have not gone to college. You know, and I think that sometimes there’s the common misconception of, oh, I’ll go to college.

00;17;11;23 – 00;17;26;06
Speaker 2
I’ll have this piece of paper, and I’m done. I have all the skills that I need, and in reality, the the journey is just starting. You know, colleges taught me how to keep learning and. Right, you know, it’s not the end, it’s just the beginning. But, yeah.

00;17;26;09 – 00;17;51;03
Speaker 1
And for us, college, isn’t so much necessary, to learn this trade either. But it might. Similar to what you said, it gives you a good advantage. Gives you more information in a shorter period of time. But also, my, my my father was, someone that didn’t graduate from high school. Right. So he dropped out when he was, 10th grade.

00;17;51;05 – 00;18;12;07
Speaker 1
So I think for him, it was more he wanted me to go to college because he never even finished high school. So for that aspect, college was something that I, you know, I planned on. I have to do what dad wants me to do. It. And luckily for us, Hudson Valley is right around the corner. It’s not, you know, it’s not like I had to go away.

00;18;12;07 – 00;18;16;01
Speaker 1
Because if I wasn’t the type of person that probably would have went away to college.

00;18;16;03 – 00;18;31;03
Speaker 2
Yeah. We have an amazing, amazing resource right here in our backyard. So we’re we’re certainly fortunate for for Hudson Valley. Yeah. So fast forward now, you do all the right things. You learn on your own. Where are you today?

00;18;31;05 – 00;18;54;13
Speaker 1
So today, the owner of the auto body in Green Island, New York, purchased that in March of, last year, took over a 50 year business. So Joe’s been in business 50 years here, did a great job. And. But he’s getting up in age and doesn’t have family. You know, no children of his own.

00;18;54;16 – 00;19;22;24
Speaker 1
And so ultimately, we’re able to come up with a deal, and I was able to purchase his business. You know, as it’s turnkey. So, started in March. It’s actually, this week is a full year for us, and have been able to dial it in to different things that I’m used to. Right. So I think each shop really has their own dynamic and has their own way of getting things done.

00;19;23;01 – 00;19;46;29
Speaker 1
Ultimately, I put my own spin on it. Organization just to make it easy on myself. Right. So it doesn’t mean that what they were doing was wrong. It was just not how I did it. So I brought in my own systems, have everything, you know, up and running. And so far, it’s been excellent. It’s been better than expected.

00;19;47;01 – 00;20;19;18
Speaker 2
So obviously that’s a huge undertaking going into a business that’s already existing and working with, I’m assuming the people that are already there. But then also, you know, bringing in your own, flavor to it, as you mentioned, how did you balance the field work component and still keeping a handle on that, but also dealing with the leadership side of things and creating the the culture and the strategy for all of those people to operate.

00;20;19;18 – 00;20;26;26
Speaker 2
That’s now under your leadership. How do you how do you balance those two things? Because it’s got to be a lot, especially at first.

00;20;26;29 – 00;20;29;15
Speaker 1
Well, I definitely have less hair than I started with a year ago.

00;20;29;19 – 00;20;30;17
Speaker 2
It looks a little grayer.

00;20;30;17 – 00;21;00;15
Speaker 1
Josh so I say that’s wisdom sprinkled in there. That’s right. The, you know, I don’t know how I did it either, because I’ll tell you in the moment and felt like, weeks felt like like, you know, months. It was almost like everything happening so fast and yet and I was nervous also because it was my first time purchasing a business and taking it over on my own.

00;21;00;18 – 00;21;24;22
Speaker 1
I had experience, obviously, but it was with other people’s money and this was my money. So ultimately, I really, you know, I took some of the experience I had from building other businesses, but, kind of take a, I took a back seat. To be honest, I think sometimes when you come in headstrong and you try to push your way through things, you meet a lot of resistance.

00;21;24;24 – 00;22;06;06
Speaker 1
I more or less took a back seat and kind of let the operation run. I’d say the first month at least. With very little involvement. It was more, you know, or may have appeared as less involvement. It was more observation. I was really trying to look and see how they were doing it without me being there and then ultimately looking at the holes or opportunities, and I could see where I could implement different things to, change the, the end product, or make it easier or, have better ways of making sure you’re capturing all of the, the revenue on an estimate.

00;22;06;09 – 00;22;37;00
Speaker 1
Right? So a lot of times what we do is a lot of negotiation with insurance companies. But without good information, you know, you’re, you’re arguing or trying to negotiate over something that most people would fail at. So the process that, that, I was used to, I implemented, which gave me a little bit more of an advantage to, start pursuing, better claim handling, processing cars better, faster.

00;22;37;02 – 00;23;09;10
Speaker 1
So getting the customer in their car back faster, helps the phone from ringing. Right. So there’s little things that that people don’t realize are happening, because they’re missing, you know, the big picture. Whereas, like, I came in, took a backseat, kind of wanted to figure out big picture and watch it develop. And then it started from the other side, you know, filling the holes and fixing things to where the stress level come down on most of the staff.

00;23;09;13 – 00;23;29;07
Speaker 1
Right. Because they may have been doing the same thing two or 3 or 4 times when there was a way to do it from the beginning, they were just skipping that step. To where slowly but surely throughout the year, we got it dialed in pretty well, and I still have the same staff that they had when we started.

00;23;29;10 – 00;23;54;18
Speaker 1
Right. So I didn’t lose anybody. I actually added to it. But to, I find it to be a success talking to you today that I was able to come in here with somebody, you know, a business of. It’s been operating for five decades without me bringing my ideas. Change things, but yet still keep the same people, employed the same culture.

00;23;54;18 – 00;24;03;26
Speaker 1
And then ultimately, the same faces went on when prior customers come in and see the same people.

00;24;03;28 – 00;24;27;09
Speaker 2
So you’re a big process guy. And I know we talked a lot about that the last time you were on the show. What or how did you approach that with people who are just meeting you or only knowing you for a handful of months? How did you create those processes and roll them out to the team? Did you did you ask for input?

00;24;27;11 – 00;24;35;20
Speaker 2
We’ve been talking a lot about this with Bill, on our lab episodes, with process creation and development, and every business is a little bit different. With that,

00;24;35;20 – 00;24;43;22
Speaker 2
I’d be interested to hear what your take is and how you approach that, and then get get the team to follow those processes.

00;24;43;25 – 00;25;07;21
Speaker 1
Hey, everybody, just taking a quick break to talk to you about one of our sponsors, Curtis Lumber. Curtis Lumber is the professional’s choice for home improvement from windows and doors, roofing and siding, decks and building packages to floors and more. Trust the pros at Curtis Lumber for expert advice and daily delivery for locations, visit Curtis lumber.com. That’s Curtis lumber.com.

00;25;07;24 – 00;25;14;15
Speaker 2
I’d be interested to hear what your take is and how you approach that, and then get get the team to follow those processes.

00;25;14;18 – 00;25;35;12
Speaker 1
I think a lot of it’s just open communication and you have to be willing to, have egg on your face too, because you may implement something and think, well, I’ve done this before and this is the way it’s best, executed. And then you, someone new enters the room and they have a different perspective on it.

00;25;35;12 – 00;25;56;17
Speaker 1
And then you’re like, well, you know what makes sense? Or, you know, you ask somebody, why have you always been doing it this way? I’m just curious for my own, you know, ask them and then they explain to you why they’ve been doing it that way. And then you can, from that perspective, what a twist on it and say, well, if have you ever thought about, you know, X, Y or Z.

00;25;56;19 – 00;26;19;28
Speaker 1
No, I have it. Well, let’s try it and let’s just see what happens. And so a lot of it was, you know, from a, leader perspective, you have to get by it. All right. The I don’t care who you are, what you wear and people can yes you to death behind your back. You know, you have to earn earn your keep.

00;26;19;28 – 00;26;39;10
Speaker 1
So I think a lot of what I was doing was having a good conversation, showing them things, and then following up on it and make sure that, you know, not only were they listening, but they understood that. Okay. Yeah. Now I get it. That’s why we’re doing it. You know, we’re doing it because the outcome over here is better.

00;26;39;12 – 00;27;05;09
Speaker 1
You know, something as simple as, pre-wash in a car, right? So cars come in and, prior to me here, let’s just say they weren’t pre washing cars. Right? But then the car gets through the refinish portion and the paint job is dirty. So paint job is dirty. Now you have to put more time into the paint job because there’s dirt in the paint.

00;27;05;09 – 00;27;25;26
Speaker 1
So there’s ways of removing it. You sand it out, you bought it, you polish it and then it goes, you know, through the process. But if you pre cleaned cars, so if the car when it first comes in the door is washed thoroughly, you know, inside the wheel liners. The under underneath the hood, all the area, the gaps in the doors, things like that.

00;27;25;29 – 00;27;46;16
Speaker 1
You go through it thoroughly upfront. You may spend 25 minutes, but then when it goes through the shop, the shop’s cleaner, the technicians that are working on it are cleaner. It goes through the paint department doesn’t have all the dirt on it, so you have a better chance at a more pure outcome from once. One simple step in the beginning, right?

00;27;46;18 – 00;28;07;16
Speaker 1
So the guy that was buffing the cars was also the guy that was cleaning the cars. So for him, if you’re gonna make me clean more cars, no, not the same cars. You’re going to spend less time because then we’re not going to be needing to wet sand and buff as many, as many vehicles. And as that was able to be rolled out.

00;28;07;16 – 00;28;30;25
Speaker 1
And then proof in the pudding. Right. The cars were coming out cleaner, and maybe he had a speck of dirt here or there, but it was a much less involved, something that would take 5 to 10 minutes versus 25 to 45 minutes. So he started to see you. Right? So, you know, that in itself made a much more thorough you know, my my explanation from the beginning was pretty clean.

00;28;30;25 – 00;28;48;11
Speaker 1
The car, you know, clean the wheels, clean the wheel liners, door jams. He took it a step further only because he saw that little shift. That little change made such a big improvement that he was now not just cleaning it, he was also drying it off and making it, you know, reading an estimate to say, oh, we’re going to work on this area.

00;28;48;11 – 00;28;58;24
Speaker 1
Let me make sure I really thoroughly clean degrease, you know, do other steps ahead of time, to make the downstream process faster.

00;28;58;26 – 00;29;33;10
Speaker 2
Such a sounds very simple. Me not knowing anything about, you know, that train it. It seems like that’s a very simple implementation. And it makes a lot of sense. I had no idea that that was the case. So it’s that’s very, very interesting. So when your with, with the retention, I think, do you, do you feel as though there’s a culture component to what you brought to the business that has kept these, these guys.

00;29;33;12 – 00;29;36;10
Speaker 2
Or is the process piece all tied into that?

00;29;36;13 – 00;29;56;09
Speaker 1
I think a lot of it’s a process piece because, most people want easy, right? They want something that it’s, it’s, pure. It’s easy to understand. And they don’t want resistance. And once you bring a process in, as long as it makes sense, if you bring a process and it makes things worse, well, then you’re going to be having more meetings, more conversation.

00;29;56;09 – 00;30;24;16
Speaker 1
But as long as what you’re doing is improving their daily, environment and they’re able to, perform and get, you know, a lot of these guys are what’s called a flat rate. So it’s piecework, right? So they get paid by the job, not by the hour. So those guys, of course, want efficiency, right? They don’t want wasted time wasted steps either, because, you know, the more time that they waste that’s not on an estimate, the less money they make.

00;30;24;19 – 00;30;52;04
Speaker 1
So the, I think overall the the process piece is what was able to, to secure the, culture. Right? So it was, buy in, but then also, I don’t know, it sounds weird, but almost like the stress came out of the room, right? It was a much easier environment. We’re able to kid around, joke around, not be so tense because there so many problems.

00;30;52;04 – 00;31;12;05
Speaker 1
I think we always look to eliminate problems. Right. So of course, you know, no one’s perfect. So daily we have problems. But if every day we come in and we try to eliminate one right over a year of time, that’s a lot of problems. You have solved or come close to solving. So that’s the mentality I bring every day with everyone.

00;31;12;05 – 00;31;32;26
Speaker 1
And, you know, my, leadership staff that’s up front now, you know, has that same mentality to where, you know, how can we improve if we do have a, a failure or when we do have a failure, we’re not perfect. Okay. What steps do we skip or how do we get here? How do we avoid this the next time?

00;31;32;29 – 00;31;52;19
Speaker 1
Right. And it’s always, you know, like like you and I have discussed privately before, but easy to have them conversations with people. You’re, you’re you got people that you, interest in, in, in, in your team and, and want them to be able to do their own job. Right. So they’re, they’re off and running on their own.

00;31;52;19 – 00;32;18;22
Speaker 1
But yet you and, you and them have to have those tough conversations sometimes where, hey, I understand. However, we should have followed through with, let’s go back. You know, started this step and then. Yeah, we did we we got sloppy on this, you know, section of it which created the downstream issue. Now we have to repaint something or whatever the case may be.

00;32;18;25 – 00;32;29;02
Speaker 2
So you mentioned that you’ve added to your team since you’ve been there. What are some of the characteristics or what do you look for, when you are hiring in today’s job market?

00;32;29;05 – 00;32;54;06
Speaker 1
So for me, luckily I have some of the guys that I’ve worked with in the past that have, joined me here, which has been an advantage because we already know each other, but I’d say looking to hire from the outside. I’m looking for, self-starters, somebody that, you know, and common sense. It should be termed something else because it’s not common.

00;32;54;08 – 00;33;13;15
Speaker 1
But I’d like to have, show some common understanding. And most things, you can just have a simple conversation, really, and pick up on if someone’s got some motivation behind them or if they want to do better and I think similar go back to the early conversation with, every day coming in and wanting to be the best.

00;33;13;17 – 00;33;35;21
Speaker 1
I want the same thing for anyone that’s coming in, whether you’re entry level or someone that comes in with some experience, I want you to come in knowing that we’re going to together every day, work on being even better or doing something different. Right? We don’t want to, just take you in and say, well, this is your job and I’ll see you in 20 years, right?

00;33;35;24 – 00;34;05;02
Speaker 1
I think that every day we should both be looking to improve and whether they’re looking to help improve me or improve themselves. Try something new, you know, b b be, a player on a different team, you know? So in the shop here, there’s there’s body techs, there’s painters, there’s intermediates, there’s, you know, some some guys that take cars apart, or maybe they want to go and learn skill set in a different, department a little bit.

00;34;05;04 – 00;34;35;23
Speaker 1
Someone that’s always looking, you know, for me, it’s something that’s looking for a future, not for a job. I think that I’m trying to hire someone for a job. There’s plenty of candidates out there. Trying to hire someone that’s looking to build a future with you. Is, you know, from my perspective, that’s what I’m looking for. So I think when we sit down to do interviews, I kind of, I don’t have a format, but I’d like to say I try to pull out of them some questions to make me, you know, understand where they’re coming from.

00;34;35;26 – 00;34;53;05
Speaker 1
And really make sure that there’s somebody that’s not just looking to fulfill something for today. And then once they get that, you know, they’re off and running to someone else. I want somebody that’s looking to be, on our team and improve with us for years and years to come.

00;34;53;07 – 00;35;06;10
Speaker 2
What are some of the, the habits and routines that you guys deploy, in your business currently to help you yourself or your employees deploy that help you guys stay sharp and reliable?

00;35;06;12 – 00;35;32;17
Speaker 1
There is a lot of, continuing education. So there’s, industry training. It’s called iCar, but it’s the most known, you know, outside of doing whether it’s, you know, college or, you know, some of the stuff you may see online for automotive trades, it’s continuing education. There’s, maintaining certain amount of classes per year. So it’s credited hours.

00;35;32;20 – 00;35;53;23
Speaker 1
All of my guys are enrolled in that. The shop itself, when I first started, didn’t have any of that. There was no enrollment. There was no one that was partaking in it. So everyone here, I’ve signed up, it’s, And we’ve achieved gold class that’s as high as you can go for a shop, but each person on an individual basis can reach platinum level.

00;35;53;25 – 00;36;32;01
Speaker 1
So, we’ve done some of that also, you know, the cars today, each car is different and they change. The manufacturer can change a replacement procedure on a structural piece overnight. So we have access to live data. Some of it’s on all data collision. Some of it is directly to the manufacturer. Where we’re, you know, reviewing procedures and instructions, you know, on how the manufacturer wants something completed before we go and opening up the car and then finding out, you know, later.

00;36;32;01 – 00;36;59;20
Speaker 1
So a lot of it is pre gaming, getting prepared for the task ahead of us. And that’s, you know, from a educational perspective, this kind of most of what we do, you know, to keep our, our tool sharp. And then also always trying new things. You know, I don’t know if I think we touched on this a little bit ago, but trying to do something, like you said, your window job that you haven’t done before.

00;36;59;27 – 00;37;23;13
Speaker 1
Right? We have a good contract here with a big, site development group. And they sent us an email of, a massive hood on, like a Kenworth. This is huge. Hood’s probably 15ft long, eight foot high. And they said, can you fix this? And, so my team were like, look at this. Can can we fix this?

00;37;23;17 – 00;37;42;19
Speaker 1
I was like, I don’t know, let’s try it. How do we don’t know until we’ve till we try. Right. So I did some research, found out what is made of, couple of the braces that they showed us in the picture. You can purchase separate. So, you know, none of my guys here have done this before. So it’s never it’s new to all of us.

00;37;42;19 – 00;38;04;00
Speaker 1
Right. Self included. But, it’s a hood. So it’s not something that, you know, worst case scenario, we don’t do it right. We can buy a hood. Right? But ultimately, we’re going to do our best to straighten this out for the company. But also, it’s a learning experience for us, right? And you can’t be shy of trying new things.

00;38;04;03 – 00;38;37;24
Speaker 1
So I think, you know, also having that mentality, is also sharpening our tool. Right. I’m always looking to I’d like to be at some point, the guy that everybody calls for, everything. You know, if it’s, paint related or automotive related, the guy, you know, that’s ultimately my, futuristic outlook on me. I want to be have a facility and the ability to be able to do anything, whether it’s trucks, trailers, motorcycles, hot rods, today’s modern car or a muscle car.

00;38;37;27 – 00;38;53;29
Speaker 1
You know, I want to be able to be able to do it all. To do that. Derek, I got to educate myself, too. Is there some things that there’s a lot of things I actually I don’t know, but I’m willing to learn and willing to try to, to, showcase our talent.

00;38;54;01 – 00;39;04;04
Speaker 2
You just answered the last question I was going to ask you, which is awesome. I was going to, to ask you what the future looks like for your business. And where’s the company going next? So.

00;39;04;06 – 00;39;32;13
Speaker 1
Yeah. So, I bought arrows here in March. Fast forward, I was at the same time, I had a local dealership reach out to me for, they were looking for a consultant to review their, their shop, and they didn’t know that I had just purchased a shop. So, anyway, long story short, I met them. They wanted me to consult and try to bring their shop to the next level.

00;39;32;15 – 00;39;56;22
Speaker 1
Ultimately wasn’t a fit for me. At the time, I just. You know, literally just started here at Laser Arrows. But the conversation stayed open and we kept talking, and it led to me purchasing that shop in August. So August of 25, I purchased another shop in Saratoga. So currently have two shops. Both stayed under the same name.

00;39;56;24 – 00;40;24;08
Speaker 1
Obviously under my leadership now, the shop is upstate in, Saratoga and, and currently I’m talking to someone else in another, automotive shop to expand, but it’s, it’s something that, you know, I’m not. That’s not my goal. My goal is not to just keep expanding. My goal is to find things that I feel that fit right with me.

00;40;24;11 – 00;40;43;11
Speaker 1
This seems to be the right fit and something that I’m also interested in. It’s got a little bit of a different, flavor than what I’m used to. So I want to try to, push myself. So it’s something that is a little bit of a challenge for me. If it’s something that I can do. And I feel like that’s what I need right now.

00;40;43;13 – 00;41;03;27
Speaker 1
Not that starting a new business isn’t challenging, but I think that you have to always wake up every day with, burning in your stomach to just keep going and being, stronger, better than the day before. And some of that may be taking risks. And so, I’m working on that. We’ll see how that goes.

00;41;03;27 – 00;41;26;15
Speaker 1
If it does. And then, you know, I’ll be more hedging myself towards the future me, which is the ability to be the guy that you call for anything. So you get into, different sectors in your business with vans or trucks or big equipment or even a fire truck. There’s not a thing that that, planes. What’s that saying?

00;41;26;15 – 00;41;35;16
Speaker 1
They’re planes, trains and automobiles. I don’t know if I can get a train in there, but, I want to. I do want to be that guy that can do just about anything.

00;41;35;19 – 00;41;42;20
Speaker 2
So you purchase two businesses all within six months of each other? Yep.

00;41;42;22 – 00;41;44;06
Speaker 1
Yep.

00;41;44;09 – 00;41;45;26
Speaker 2
No wonder you have gray hair.

00;41;45;28 – 00;41;47;26
Speaker 1
And I’m not trying hard enough.

00;41;47;28 – 00;42;08;03
Speaker 2
I’m just a dumb. Well, that’s incredible, man. I think that’s, a great place to, to transition here to our our blueprint. Section. So, everybody, if, you’re not a member yet, join our Patreon, side of the the show. We’re going to ask you some some rapid fire questions here about his journey and and how he does this.

00;42;08;03 – 00;42;17;18
Speaker 2
Obviously, you just heard, purchasing two businesses here within six months is pretty incredible. So, thank you all for joining us. And, Josh, thank you. And, we’ll see you on the Patreon side.

00;42;17;20 – 00;42;45;18
Speaker 1
And that wraps up another episode of Blue Collar Startup. A big thank you to our sponsors, Five Towers Media, Daigle Cleaning Systems, Daigle Fire Solutions, The Michaels Group, Martin Electric, MLB construction, Pinocchio Construction People, and Catamount Consulting for making this podcast possible. And thank you for tuning in. If you learned something or felt inspired. Connect with us on our website at Blue Collar Startup Bio or email us at hardhat Dot CSU at gmail.com.

00;42;45;18 – 00;42;58;13
Speaker 1
We’d love to hear your questions and topic ideas. Help us spread the word by sharing the show and following us on social media for updates. Until next time, keep on building. Keep on dreaming and keep hustling like your future depends on it.

00;42;58;16 – 00;43;53;09
Unknown
Oh, hey. Oh, hey.

00;43;53;12 – 00;44;08;01
Unknown
Oh, hey. Oh, hey.

00;44;08;04 – 00;44;11;18
Speaker 2
I forgot how close together that all happened.

00;44;11;20 – 00;44;17;09
Speaker 1
Be, too, because I look back and I’m like, how did I do that? Honestly, I remember, I remember. Don’t think.

00;44;17;09 – 00;44;18;04
Speaker 2
About it when you’re doing it.

00;44;18;05 – 00;44;37;10
Speaker 1
Now. I remember my one mentor. He actually works for me now. So the same guy when I first, first dealership, I went and worked of out of when I was at Hudson Valley. So the mentor there is they work for me today. Here it was arrows and, he was a body tech still is a body tech, but he’s become like a father to me.

00;44;37;12 – 00;44;51;01
Speaker 1
And, so I was telling him, you know, Saratoga reached out. They want me to take over their shop. But he’s like, how the hell you gonna do that? And I was like, I don’t know. And he’s like, what do you mean, you know? No, I said, I think I’ll figure it out when I get there. He’s like, are you serious?

00;44;51;03 – 00;45;11;09
Speaker 1
I was like, I kind of am, I know, am I ready? Probably not. Am I going to do it? Why not? Yeah, it’s almost, you know, and I remember losing sleep around that time multiple, you know, no different than you, you know, we’re we’re doing similar things. You overthink yourself and you’re like, shit, I shouldn’t be doing this.

00;45;11;09 – 00;45;27;08
Speaker 1
This is a fucking bad idea. Like, how am I going to do this? I don’t even have time to do that. I’m thinking of all the things that I. I didn’t get right yet with laser arrows, and it’s telling me to not go do this next thing because of that. And then I’m like, well, wait a second, all this stuff’s little stupid shit.

00;45;27;10 – 00;45;47;08
Speaker 1
I know it’s not done yet. I know it could be better, but the customer doesn’t. A lot of it may be appearance things or, you know, like the office I’m in is fucking from the 70s. But that’s not going to matter to the to the future. You know, the future me isn’t going to be shouldn’t be held back because the office has, you know, drop ceiling.

00;45;47;11 – 00;46;09;19
Speaker 1
Yeah. So and now, you know, what do we say six months past that? It’s probably the best thing I’ve done. Oh, yeah. Smartest decision I’ve made is I have, you know, not only was I able to capture a great crew there also and build on it, it’s just the way things are flowing. And I landed a phenomenal tech.

00;46;09;19 – 00;46;29;03
Speaker 1
Got a tech out of, store up in Glens Falls. He replaced a retired a guy that retired for us at the end of the year. It’s it’s given me more opportunity that to where I’m I’m running out of work now. I need to find ways to get more work because I have so many strong players that they’re just they’re so effective.

00;46;29;03 – 00;46;52;21
Speaker 1
They’re getting through it. So I’m like, but, what I thought I could do in this small box, I’m way off. I can do a lot more on the small box because of who I’ve surrounded myself with. Yeah. So that’s the position I’m in now is, you know, I’m looking at possibly taking on an insurance relationship, and I don’t want to because there’s a lot of dirty aspects to it.

00;46;52;23 – 00;47;17;06
Speaker 1
You know, the insurance companies are scumbags, but, you almost have to, to stay steady, you know, to keep the keep the guys that are working for you, making a solid paycheck. Because I’m finding that the workflow they had coming in there before without any relationships was good for that size. Shop with those, you know, few people they had.

00;47;17;09 – 00;47;38;29
Speaker 1
But now that I have my guys in there and they’re trained on my way of doing things, we can do a lot more in a small box. So it’s tiny but mighty. The, the, the staff, there’s only like 7000ft². And I think I got eight, eight employees, maybe nine, but, they’re just efficient. Each one of them is.

00;47;38;29 – 00;47;45;12
Speaker 1
It’s great to see, you know, it’s something that I’m I’m very blessed in many ways. I say that.

00;47;45;15 – 00;48;02;06
Speaker 2
Now. That’s awesome, man. That’s awesome. And Kelsey. But between if you can edit out the the part from Patreon to, now just, you know, to keep us on on track with with that, I know we dropped a couple F-bombs and whatever else in there as well. Yeah, I.

00;48;02;06 – 00;48;03;03
Speaker 1
Forgot we were off that.

00;48;03;04 – 00;48;24;20
Speaker 2
But it’s okay. No, I just want to let Kelsey know. So when she added that, you know, that won’t that won’t be in there. So welcome back, everybody to the Patreon side of of the episode. We’re here with Josh over at Los Arrows Auto Body. Josh, I got to ask you, wouldn’t you know, we we just heard your story, of acquiring two businesses within six months.

00;48;24;23 – 00;48;46;25
Speaker 2
You’re you’re on a path of very fast growth, obviously, and stepped into, a huge role that involves both leadership and technical experience. So I got to ask you what what do you think the keys to success are when you’re getting started in business?

00;48;46;27 – 00;49;10;22
Speaker 1
You know, I think the keys for, for me is, I guess a lot of self, self-reflection, self, self-help. You know, I started, really working on myself this year because there’s a lot of times when, you know, the lights go out to everyone and closes the door and leaves, but there’s a lot of things left to be done.

00;49;10;25 – 00;49;46;03
Speaker 1
So I think that for myself, it was, a lot of time to get right in between my years. And, you know, that’s a key for me is to really make sure that your, your, you’re strong in your mindset and also in strong in your ability to take on, more than what you think you can chew because, it, it pays off in the long run in the, in the, in the time that it’s happening, you may feel overwhelmed, but before you know, you’ll be looking back and it it didn’t, it wasn’t as bad as you envisioned in your mind.

00;49;46;05 – 00;50;02;16
Speaker 1
I think a lot of times we talked to ourselves in a or we we can, we can talk ourselves out of things fast, and we talk our things into our ourselves into it. So for me, a lot of it is, a building block would be a lot of it would be self self-help.

00;50;02;19 – 00;50;23;17
Speaker 2
What are what are some of the things that you do? Because I know from, from my experience and you know, you’re 100% right. You always have to keep taking on more than you think you can to, to keep challenging yourself and learning and growing. Totally totally agree. For me, I have a difficult time shutting off and focusing on other things, right?

00;50;23;17 – 00;50;42;21
Speaker 2
Like you said, the lights go out, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. What are some of the tools or well, routines or what have you that you use to help with that, to be able to, to step away, clear your mind and reset for the following day.

00;50;42;23 – 00;51;02;12
Speaker 1
Some of it is, physical, you know, recently I’ve been doing a lot more, working out in the afternoon or just after the after work, kind of a, way to just get my energy out, kind of beat myself up, put myself in a level to where I’m exhausted, to where I have no choice but to go home and relax.

00;51;02;14 – 00;51;19;27
Speaker 1
Because a lot of times, if I didn’t have that energy outburst, I’d have enough, you know, in me still to want to keep going. And then you enter burnout phase and you can’t, you can’t recover from that. I think sometimes because then it starts to take a toll on your mind, and then you’re just you’re you’re absent.

00;51;19;27 – 00;51;41;09
Speaker 1
Somebody be asking yourself, then you got to ask them three times. What did you say? You know, you didn’t really comprehend because you’re you’re just overwhelmed. So for me, it’s, I like to, to go to the gym after work and exert some energy and go home and try to try to deflate it almost. Let me just let it all go pick it back up tomorrow.

00;51;41;11 – 00;52;01;18
Speaker 1
There are some things that you can’t. Right? So with our darn phone and the ability to read your emails, I think I’m on that all the time, you know, and, no different than probably any other business owner. You know, customers can reach out to me. It’s probably 830 at night, and I’d probably respond, it’s just. But to me that to me it doesn’t feel like work.

00;52;01;18 – 00;52;25;23
Speaker 1
It’s just what I’m doing, you know? And, maybe it makes me different. But I don’t try to take on big stuff when the lights go out at the shop. I like to, you know, maybe small stuff. I’ll pick that for the for the business. But a lot of it is being there for my family. Mentally, because I think a lot of times it drains us during the day and then we go home and we’re trying to recover.

00;52;25;29 – 00;52;34;12
Speaker 1
So I try to be a better dad and leave work at work and show up and be a father.

00;52;34;15 – 00;52;43;07
Speaker 2
That’s awesome. And, I totally agree. What would you say are some of the top things to avoid when starting in business?

00;52;43;09 – 00;53;12;26
Speaker 1
I’d say, one of the top things to avoid would be. You know, so it’s going to sound weird, but maybe being too cautious. I found that not even in the automotive, but even with, with, owning, investment property, you know, there was many times that the wanting to exert extra caution or being very conservative, tripped me up on some opportunities.

00;53;12;28 – 00;53;47;10
Speaker 1
You know, I think back on a lost some deals or lost, some opportunities because I was way too cautious in my mind. And I, like I said in other answer there, a little bit ago, I think our mind has the ability to convince us, however, you know, the worst case scenario. And maybe that’s just me, but I almost envision everything in a worst case scenario and then try to back myself out of it, to where I think, of course, you need to make sure that you can cash flow and maintain a business, especially if you’re taking something over.

00;53;47;10 – 00;54;19;09
Speaker 1
You need to have your, ducks in a row financially, but I think you shouldn’t be fearful of taking a step because, you’re never going to know. And I think there’s always plenty of time to try again. So I think if even if you step out and it didn’t work well, you just reset and and try again, you know, and I think if you have that mentality, I think you’ll be set up for, longevity in business and successful.

00;54;19;11 – 00;54;29;16
Speaker 2
What what is the best strategy that you’ve, deployed to gain new clients and customers?

00;54;29;19 – 00;55;01;08
Speaker 1
The best strategy is relationships. You know, many relationships I’ve built over the years with, whether it’s insurance agents or businesses that, when you when you get them in and you’re able to, provide them what they’re looking for, you won’t believe how far that will go. Right. So then that little, you know, exchange of of, meeting someone turned into ten, 15, 20 different possible customers.

00;55;01;11 – 00;55;34;19
Speaker 1
I found that a lot here with with taking over the zeros. Joe had 50 years of customers. And think about how many generations of families that he’s done work for, right? So it’s endless the amount of customers that walk through the door here that they may be a new customer here, but they were referred to or recommended because their grandfather or their uncle or I had a guy in here three weeks ago I was talking to in the office and, he had been always used to dealing with Joe, and just so happened that day that he came in.

00;55;34;20 – 00;55;56;12
Speaker 1
Joe wasn’t here. Because Joe’s still here on the counter answering the phones, and, I just started talking to the guy, and his family has been coming here for over 40 years. Wow. And so when I started talking to him and he had a, nicer, newer car in the left front, so I went outside talking to him about it, looking at it, and he goes, do you remember named a car?

00;55;56;12 – 00;56;15;20
Speaker 1
And I’m not I’m not good with names or cars, remembering who came in here. And I said, no, not really. And he’s like, oh, okay. Well that was my niece. And I said, oh, okay. So in in small conversation in five minutes, this guy had had, a touch in 5 or 6 cars that have been here this year.

00;56;15;24 – 00;56;38;25
Speaker 1
One person. So I think if, if, if you have, whether you’re, you know, well, we’re all in a customer business, right? We all have customers. But if you take care of that customer well enough, that person is going to then extend you to their friends and family. And in that, you know, in that aspect, same thing probably happens if you, you know, you don’t do a good job.

00;56;38;26 – 00;56;58;03
Speaker 1
I hate to say it, but if you know, if any of them people that I’ve touched in the, whether they’re insurance agents or in big business and didn’t perform and didn’t do what they expected, well, likewise, they’re probably not coming back. And they’re also not going to tell the next five, ten people. So for me, it’s all been about relationships.

00;56;58;10 – 00;57;03;29
Speaker 1
And I think relationships take a, quite a way.

00;57;04;01 – 00;57;10;27
Speaker 2
I agree with all of what you say. Josh, if people want to learn more about loss arrows, where can they find you?

00;57;10;29 – 00;57;21;21
Speaker 1
Well, they could find me at my. If they, want to email me. JJ, j do it at auto body.com.

00;57;21;24 – 00;57;26;23
Speaker 2
We’ll put your, your email and phone in the, the episode notes, if you’d like, as well. So.

00;57;27;00 – 00;57;28;08
Speaker 1
Yeah, let’s do that. Yeah.

00;57;28;10 – 00;57;32;18
Speaker 2
Awesome. Cool. Well thanks again, Josh. And appreciate you joining us today.

00;57;32;20 – 00;57;33;23
Speaker 1
Thanks, Derek.

00;57;33;25 – 00;58;01;25
Speaker 1
And that wraps up another episode of Blue Collar Startup. A big thank you to our sponsors, Five Towers Media, Daigle Cleaning Systems, Daigle Fire Solutions, The Michaels Group, Martin Electric, MLB construction, Pinocchio Construction People, and Catamount Consulting for making this podcast possible. And thank you for tuning in. If you learned something or felt inspired. Connect with us on our website at Blue Collar Startup Bio or email us at hardhat Dot CSU at gmail.com.

00;58;01;25 – 00;58;14;20
Speaker 1
We’d love to hear your questions and topic ideas. Help us spread the word by sharing the show and following us on social media for updates. Until next time, keep on building. Keep on dreaming and keep hustling like your future depends on it.

00;58;14;23 – 00;58;24;20
Unknown
Oh, hey. Oh, hey.

Details

  • Hosts

    Derek Foster

  • Guests

    Josh Jewett

  • Runtime

    43 mins, 13 secs

  • Airing Date

    April 8, 2026 


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