carbtech72

Just got 10x on audiobook and "Think and grow rich" on Kindle. Ive been listening to 10x for a few hours before and after I open and close. Been reading think and grow rich but it seems to be a slow read so far. Ordered Slingshot and Internet marketing on amazon.

has anyone read Slingshot by Dave Dickson or Internet marketing for auto shops by John Hemmingway?

I only have one employee and I pay him flat rate/flag hours. He's good and doesn't have any problem making hours. Works out for both of us.

Im in SC and its hit or miss. Luckily we've managed to stay busy every day, there's always something to do. Ive been busy and seen a lot of other shops slow and ive been slow when others are swamped. Its just the nature of this business sometimes

What have you found to be the more successfully ways of advertising. I've been using just word of mouth and craigslist and it's been working so far but I really need to increase my car count. Any thoughts?

got a true nightmare. Replaced 2 broken timing chain guides in a 2010 Hyundai sonata with a 2.4. Now it wont start and im getting error codes p0340 & 365 and have no spark. My last tech walked off with my lab scope so finding waveforms is not happening. Car ran fine when arrived(other than noisy). Anyone ever come across this

a new fan assembly direct from the ford dealer did the trick. Fixed the problem, customer happy, 1 more headache gone

Half day on Christmas eve and new years eve. Closed Christmas and new years day and those weekends

2010 Ford Edge, came in for fans inop. Replace cooling fans assembly and they worked fine. Customer returned a few days later with complaint of fans now not shutting off. According to the wiring diagram the only pieces in the fan system are the coolant temp sensor, PCM and cooling fan module on the fan assembly. I replaced the fan assembly again hoping that would fix it but they still stay on. Replaced the ECT sensor, still staying on. Anyone ever come across a bad PCM keeping the fans on?

I have the same model, have you ever had battery issues? Mine wont charge but works if you plug it in to the ALDL connector

thanks for all the feedback. I took a bit of advice from everyone and implemented a lot of changes, some quick fixes and some for the long haul. First thing was I took a 4 day weekend, no phone, no talk of the shop at home. Just spend 4 relaxing days with my family. That was a big relief and cleared my head and gave me insight on what to do next. Also designated 12-24 to 1-2 as vacation, closed, no work, calls get sent to my cell phone and im taking appointments for when I get back. I basically hit the big "reset" button and went back to how I ran things when I first opened. Let my 2 techs go and went back to just me doing everything myself, comebacks have stopped.. Stopped taking in as many big, time consuming jobs(engine swaps/rebuilds) and focused on bringing in more "gravy" easier said than done but with less stress and aggravation its easier to sell the easy work, my mind is focused on that and not the 30 other things going on. Plus now I have a little extra time to do some marketing/advertising. I keep less hours. As long as there isn't pressing things that have to be done, shop closes at 6 and 615 im gone. Saturdays are slowly being phased from 9-1 to 9-1 by appointment only. So i can take in what I want or if I want the weekend off then I just don't book anything. I plan on staying a 1 man shop for at least 6months, long enough to be able to interview and screen for a new tech. I want to hire someone based on that he is perfect for the job, not just a body to get things done. I feel a lot more focused and don't dread coming in. Time to have me run the business, not the business run me. Its a slow process but getting there one step at a time. Thanks again for all the advice

Thanks mspec. I go in every day with a positive attitude and there are days when it seems all the planets are in a line and everything flows absolutely perfect. And then theres the days where you just want to lock the doors and say screw it. Ive been looking to join a small business owns type of group. Just hard to find the time. But its nice to know there are people who know what its like

Anyone ever get the feeling of being burned out from your shop. Ive been open for a little over 4 years and its just worn me out. Between the long hours, lack of quality technicians,dealing with taxes insurance bills...ect, excess of unreasonable/cheap customers and the general "all work, no play, little reward" has just broken me. How do you all deal with the "burned out" feeling

we do everything to establish a good relationship. Shuttle rides to and from work, always courteous, our prices are very affordable. Everything we do to the vehicle is explained very carefully and even the old parts are saved and shown. We do a callback 2-3 days after the vehicle is picked up to make sure that everything is good and the customer was happy with their experience and we always get a positive feedback, very happy. Generally we do a follow up callback 2-3 months afterwards on other repairs that we had found and explained to them. Most of the time its "i had so and so come out and do it because they only charged me X amount" That seems to be the biggest factor anymore is price. And its a price that I just cant do. Sorry brakes installed for 40 including parts isn't going to put food on the table or keep my lights on. But the good ones are out there, just need to find them

our fall downturn has reared its ugly head and we've had a pretty rough summer as well. Losing a lot of the general repair/maintenance/gravy work to mobile mechanics and their traveling side shows. So our bank account took a huge kick to the bag and we need to do a little more advertising. We gone the Craigslist route, a customer referral program and well made postcards that we place everywhere that they will let us. Anyone else have any ideas when you are operating on a shoestring budget but need to advertise