Episode #169- Why Quality Matters -Part1 - w/Clay Hoberecht-Best Body Shop

Episode Notes: 

This week, in Part 1 of this 2-Part series, we discover the relentless pursuit of excellence with Clay Hoberecht, the visionary leader of Best Body Shop and Wichita Wagyu, and focus on what quality really means. From tales of metal fabrication to insights into Wagyu beef, Clay's journey is a masterclass in how unwavering commitment to quality can shape a business and an industry. Our candid conversation takes a deep dive into the heart of entrepreneurship, exploring the strategies that transformed a passion for craftsmanship into thriving enterprises. 
 
Ripping the band-aid off, Clay exposes the raw truth about the collision repair industry's complacency and how it jeopardizes consumer safety. We discuss the importance of correct vehicle repair, challenging insurance companies, and the empowerment of consumers through education. 

We shine a spotlight on the essence of leadership, as we recount the pivotal shift in team dynamics, witnessing an entrepreneur's self-discovery and the profound impact of aligning personal strengths with the right roles. 

Tune in to this episode for an honest look at the hurdles and triumphs of building a culture of excellence and why quality matters within any industry.

Be sure to tune in next week for Part 2 of this incredible interview!

Guest Info: Clay Hoberecht – owner/ Best Body Shop & Wichita Waygu

 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BESTBODYSHOPINWICHITA

 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clay-hoberecht-a8508a17b/

Website: https://www.bestbodyshopinwichita.com/

Sign up for FREE to my "Quote of the Day" below:

 https://tinyurl.com/fv5xr68h

Chapters

• 0:00 Quality Matters
• 12:24 Challenges in the Collision Repair Industry
• 23:03 Leadership Transition and Team Development

Transcript

Rick: 0:00

This episode. I am absolutely stoked to chat with this week's special guest. He's an out-of-the-box thinker, an outspoken trailblazer for this industry. He's the creator of an industry-leading collision center model, as well as being one of my co-hosts for the past two years on the Collision Cocktail Hour. If you don't know this man with the ZZ Top beard, shades, baseball cap and the unapologetic videos of what's really going on in the body shop world, then you haven't been paying attention. This week we're talking about why quality matters, with Clay Hoberecht, owner of Best Body Shop in Wichita, Kansas, and now Wichita Wagyu.

Rick: 0:42

Welcome to the MindWrench Podcast with your host, Rick Selover, where minor adjustments produce major improvements in mindset, personal growth and success. This is the place to be every Monday, where we make small improvements and take positive actions in our business and personal lives that will make a major impact in our success, next-level growth and quality of life.

Rick: 1:14

Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome to the MindWrench Podcast. I'm your host, Rick Selover. Thanks so much for stopping in. If you're a returning listener and haven't done so already, please take a minute and click the follow or subscribe button and then rate and review the show. When you rate and review the show, the algorithms for Apple, spotify, google Podcasts, iheartradio, amazon Music and all the other platforms will see that it's valuable and show it to more people that have never seen it before, and hopefully it can help them too. I would really, really really appreciate your help, sharing this word with your friends and family as well, and if you're a brand new listener, welcome. I hope you find something of value here that helps you in your personal or professional life as well. Please make sure to click the subscribe or follow button so you never miss another episode.

Rick: 1:55

This episode. I am absolutely stoked to chat with this week's special guest. He's an out-of-the-box thinker, an outspoken trailblazer for this industry, a true master of social media. He's the creator of an industry-leading collision center model and now a bona fide steak slinger, as well as being one of my co-hosts for the past two years on the Collision Cocktail Hour. If you don't know this man with the ZZ Top, beard, shades, baseball cap and the unapologetic videos of what's really going on in the body shop world, then you haven't been paying attention.

Rick: 2:28

This week we're talking about why quality matters with Clay Holbright, owner of Best Body Shop in Wichita, Kansas, and now Wichita Wagyu. This is part one of a two-part interview. There was so much good, honest, no-holds-barred content that I thought it'd be best to break it up over two podcasts. This week we covered Clay's humble beginnings, where quality started, his vision of Best Body Shop, his family's own experience with a major collision and the aftermath of dealing with the insurance carrier. We also touched on culture, leadership and so much more. Be sure to come back next week for part two, where we frankly discuss OEM repairs, working for the consumer, the real customer and entrepreneurship. Week for part two, where we frankly discuss OEM repairs, working for the consumer, the real customer and entrepreneurship. But for this week let's get to the interview with Clay Hobright of Best Body Shop. Clay, welcome to the Mind Wrench Podcast.

Clay: 3:15

ey man, what's going on? Brother man, I actually, instead of being steak slinger, I like steak smuggler. Steak smuggler, that's even better, that's even better. Yeah, I'm hustling meat out here.

Rick: 3:32

He's hustling his meat. Perfect for this industry, isn't it? Yeah, All kidding aside, congratulations. Not everybody knows what Wagyu steak is, and I get that. I've only had it a couple times in my life. It is by far the best steak experience you'll ever have. So for you to actually pick that up and run with it and make a secondary business out of it, I think is awesome. I think within no time at all, everybody in this industry will be hitting you up going hey, you got a sampler set you can send out. I'd really like to check it out.

Clay: 4:10

Hey, man, yeah for sure.

Rick: 4:14

So anyways and that's part of the subject is quality right. We're going to talk about some quality and why quality matters and, quite honestly, that fits right in at the end. Most of the people in this industry, most of the people that will watch this, know who you are. They've seen some of your videos on Facebook or Instagram and kind of got an idea of who you are. Your name comes up a lot in a lot of circles. I know you're getting out on the speaking trail a little bit at a few different conferences, which is awesome. But for those that have not heard of you, don't know you, just a brief background on kind of how you got started and you know kind of where you got to. You know where you are right now.

Clay: 4:58

Yeah, yeah, well, I've been in the collision repair industry. I've been in the collision repair industry Well, I'd say hot rod slash collision repair industry for right around 20 years as a technician. That's how you know. That was one of my first jobs, is you know, jumping into working on cars. I got bit by the metal fabrication bug and that's really what drew me in and then later on learned how to paint, and then I was just completely overwhelmed with the whole working on a car process from start to finish, when it comes to the body side of it, body and paint. So you know, I I I've always had a two car garage full of projects and I was always doing little stuff here and there.

Clay: 5:56

And it was about 10 years actually. 10 years ago in May, I opened up a shop, a little 2,700-square-foot shop, out in West Wichita, and I had no idea what the hell I was doing. I mean, the building had no running water, no bathroom, I didn't have a paint booth. I even had to borrow the landlord's compressor some 30, 40-year-old compressor to get things going.

Rick: 6:29

At least you had a smooth cement floor right.

Clay: 6:32

Barely. It was a fiberglass boat repair store or shop before I was there, so the entire floor was just covered in fiberglass droplets. I actually had to later on hire a company to scrape the floor. That was obviously later, because I couldn't afford anything.

Rick: 7:00

I'm getting itchy just hearing this. You said what I said. I'm getting itchy just hearing this. You say what you said. I'm getting itchy just hearing about this.

Clay: 7:06

Oh, dude, it was horrible. And to try to work on a car while laying on your back with all this fiberglass chunks everywhere it was a nightmare.

Clay: 7:16

But yeah, I mean, I had $1,000 to my name and rent was $1,000. And so I went after it and at the time my wife know, my wife Barb, she it was just her and I and we shortly after that found out that she was pregnant and then I, there was a oh wow, this really has to make it. Now Life is different, you know, and really just stuck my head down and grinded really hard no big business loans, no big. You know.

Clay: 7:51

No uncle with money, you know, no inheritance, just boots for average, yeah, and so, yeah, 10 years later, we've got now the property that I was in. We've got now the property that I was in. There was another property next door and I ended up buying the entire corner. During COVID, we remodeled every building on the property and, you know, the one thing that I was dedicated to from day one is trying to create a model that would be repeatable, um, that would be consistent, and so I really utilized quite a few years of just trying to create a system that would work. Um, and, as you know, in a, in a pretty broken industry, um, and I I'm pretty proud of the fact that now we have a, a model that I think is repeatable, and our focus now is to actually repeat that model in the Midwest and then growing into a national brand.

Rick: 8:55

If you're looking for a competitive edge for your business or a more effective jumpstart to your personal development in 2024, I'll make your first step super simple.

Rick: 9:04

It is a fact that an incredible number of the most successful business owners, nearly half of the Fortune 500 companies, top-earning professional athletes, entertainers and industry leaders like Microsoft's Bill Gates, former President Bill Clinton, oprah Winfrey, richard Branson, amazon's Jeff Bezos and Salesforce's Mark Benioff all have one thing in common they all have at least one coach and some have several that they work with on a consistent basis, someone that helps guide, mentor and support them, challenge them, help them set and achieve goals that move them forward and then hold them accountable to follow through, driving personal and professional growth. Working with a coach has many substantial benefits. Just for an example, 80% of coaching clients report improved self-esteem or self-confidence thanks to coaching. 99% of individuals and companies that hire a coach report being very satisfied and 96% would do it again.

Rick: 9:58

If, deep down, you know it's time to make those improvements in your business or your personal life that you've kicked down the road year after year. If you're tired of knowing there's a better version of you waiting to shine, but unsure of how to bring that version to light. If you're tired of wanting to enjoy a more successful business but not sure how to start. And if you don't want to go another 12 months without better results, but you don't want to go it alone, then take the first step. It's super simple. Sometimes talking to the right person can make all the difference. Go to wwwrixelovercom contact and I'll set you up with a free consultation. Call with me to see if one-on-one coaching is right for you. Excellent, so you had that goal or that vision even early on. Just starting at Collision center is someday boom. But this is what I want. I want this box. I could multiple box out you know wherever I need to.

Clay: 10:52

So that's pretty interesting you know, the first couple years it was it was hot rod I I expected it to be a hot rod shop.

Clay: 11:00

That was my, that was my full focus is I wanted to be a hot rod builder and uh, and I had worked at some hot rod shops around town and that's kind of, you know, was my full focus is I wanted to be a hot rod builder and I had worked at some hot rod shops around town and that kind of was my passion when I got my feet wet with the collision repair industry.

Clay: 11:32

The unrighteousness in it, the, the absolute deception and and, uh, just how horrible it was, is what really drew me into shutting down the hot rod shop and going into the collision repair world. Because I, I saw an, an insane amount of body shops, technicians, managers that all knew that the system was broken and everybody either A was a part of the broken system or B, you know, knew it was broken and didn't want to do anything about it. And the majority of people were like this is just the way it is, this is the way it's always going to be. And then they said my magic word, which was it's impossible to change it, and I was. I mean, if you ever want me to do something, just tell me. It's impossible and there's something weird that happens inside me that I can't sleep all of a sudden.

Rick: 12:15

Yeah, I can understand that and I'll echo that statement that you know from my history in this business. I spent a lot of years going in lots of shops all over and hearing the same things. Everybody knew this isn't right, it's screwed up. But you know, I don't want to piss off the insurance companies. I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this because I don't want to risk what I've got. I'll just deal with how this industry is, because it's always been like that, it'll always be that way and everybody just easily writes it off to that right.

Clay: 12:53

Well, and it's an incredible. It's a great excuse to be complacent.

Rick: 12:58

Yeah.

Clay: 12:59

I mean, at the end of the day, everybody's in it, everybody. You know, all the crazy stuff that we see in this industry wouldn't surprise the majority of the people in the industry. It's the consumers that get surprised when you find out that the majority of body shops aren't repairing cars correctly or you're not using the right parts, tools and equipment. You're not. You know, it's like. Most people just make an assumption that everybody's repairing cars correctly. There's no way a body shop, would you know, put somebody's life at risk simply because they don't want to make an adjustment or a change. And yet for people like you and me that have been in this industry for a while, that's a, that's a normalcy that we see every day and and and a lot of people have become numb to it. For me, I never became numb to it, I mean I. To me it's still to this day. It's like it's wild.

Clay: 13:52

To me, um, there was a, there was a, there was a little bit of a learning curve for me, um, you know, even though I am an outside of the box thinker and even though there was a lot of things that I couldn't turn a blind eye to, um, when I hired on barrett smith over auto damage expert, there was a significant eye-opening experience to the stuff that I subconsciously accepted, that I didn't even know, that I accepted, and that's how damaging this industry can become.

Clay: 14:26

You can, you know, and now, on the other side, whenever I'm doing consulting or talking to other shops, within you know two to five minutes I can pull out. You know three to five things that they're doing, that they don't even know that they're doing, that are either damaging to their clients, damaging their own business, damaging to their technicians, and when you ask them why and I'm sure you've experienced this too right, rick, absolutely, where you go, I don't know yeah, I just, I guess that's what the guy before me did and that's what the other guy down the street does, and it's everybody's repeating what one guy that's not doing it right is doing.

Rick: 15:04

And it's, it's, it's clay. To me it's bizarre that, of all the businesses that exist in the world, this one is so unique and it's, I hate to say, in its dysfunction, but that's really what it is and it's it's not any one person that's bad or not doesn't want to do it, it's just the whole consensus, the whole, the whole, you know, knowledge base of this collision businesses has been, you know, just kind of outdated for decades and people are just now starting to catch up. And that's one of the reasons why we're talking and why you're on this podcast is because just in the four years that I've been doing this podcast, I have talked to more people in this industry than I thought I would outside of my general region and I'm finding shops that are figuring this out how to do it right, how to get paid for it correctly and how to handle the customer side and I know you have within your business three cores.

Clay: 16:02

But even that, even that, what you just said, it's almost hand in hand. We're so concerned about getting paid correctly. It's almost like we can't separate what we're actually doing versus what we're getting paid. And so, like the majority of the people that I talk to that want to better their business or better their body shop, it's all focused on money. It's all focused on how do I get paid. That's their number one priority. You know, one of the best things that I've done in the collision repair business is I separated the money from my damage assessment writer.

Clay: 16:36

We do what's called writing blind. We know it throughout the whole shop that the damage assessment writer, his full focus is not to focus on to total or not total a car to get the money up to. You know, all he does is blindly write what needs to happen to the vehicle period. Now, there shouldn't be anything argumentative about that period. And yet in our industry there's so many argument points to that because of what you get paid for and what you don't. And for us it's very simple. You know, our model is we write and repair the car correctly, no matter what. But and since we made the decision to not be in contract with any insurance company. We just simply have a bill and we're communicating to the insurance as a courtesy to you as a client, which means that you might have out of pocket expense.

Clay: 17:35

And what I have, what I have learned, is that people actually want their cars repaired correctly and they want to know that their family is safe in that vehicle. And guess what, rick? The only way to know that is to repair safe in that vehicle. And guess what, rick? The only way to know that is to repair it correctly. Yes, so people are willing to pay for it.

Clay: 17:47

Now you back that with the education of what the Kansas state laws dictate in how insurance companies are supposed to operate and you build a system in your business which we call collision advisors that are educated to help consumers through that process, not to take on the fight for them. We're not insurance fighters, we're consumer advocates, and so once you give the consumer the right information that they would otherwise have no idea how to find, nine times out of 10 they're going to find themselves in a position of being reimbursed by the insurance company. Not because the insurance company wakes up one day and says, let's do the right thing, because they're contractually bound to and the kansas state law dictates it right right, there's a lot behind this, that a lot of people understand especially consumers, especially consumers.

Rick: 18:43

And unfortunately consumers don't wreck their car every two weeks and they've been to the shop dozens of times in a short period of time, so they know how it works. But when they wreck their car once every seven to ten years, most people, you'll see, it's the first time they've ever been in an accident. They don't know what to expect. They don't know what their rights are. They don't even know what their own policies dictate, right? I don't think most car owners. They get insurance. They shop by price. Okay, I get the best coverage for the least amount of money. Great, I'm good, Send me the policy. And they don't look at the policy. I've been through this myself, changing insurance coverage a couple times. I don't read through the whole policy, but I should, because therein lies what they're expected to do, what they're bound to do and what they won't do.

Clay: 19:36

Well, you know, my wife just recently got into a really really bad wreck. Everybody's okay, thank God.

Clay: 19:40

You know, my wife just got recently got into a really really bad wreck and she everybody's OK, thank God, everyone was wearing their seatbelts. But even you know her and I built this business and she's going through the claims process and I'm coaching her through it and she's like I completely forgot about this, or why was it? Why am I doing this? And, oh my God, I can't believe all these things that I've forgotten. And she owns the shop, you know, and so you're 100 right as a consumer. You don't wake up on a saturday and go. You know what I think? I'm going to stop by the body shop just in case I get into a wreck someday. I'm going to get a little education, you know, doesn't? Not they you know it's.

Clay: 20:21

You don't call a body shop until you absolutely need them and when you need them. There's a lot of emotions, a lot. I mean just watching my wife go through the process and I took a backseat a little bit. I actually made some live posts on my Facebook of of the process as a consumer, I'm like, well, I want to go through this, just like my customers do. And just watching my wife go through a traumatic situation where she was in a wreck with three kids and then calling the insurance the next day and the pressure that they put on her and the lack of empathy and the games they played and that's just somebody that knows her rights, you know. And. And then she goes through, you know, going through all that. I'm like man, how do people get through this? This is tough, and that's coming from a position of knowledge. I can't even imagine not doing it for a living and then finding yourself in a position where you're like who do I trust?

Rick: 21:22

right. No, I, I agree, what a, what a, what a perfect dynamic I hate to say perfect dynamic for a collision shop owner that's trying to do it right. That is doing it right to have to go through the experience and I'm going to circle back to that a little bit, because that's there's a lot about why quality is important, uh, in that end of that story. So, um, I want to go back a little bit, though. So when you started to say you know you started working with a coach, which is great, I I suggest that to to every shop owner out there. I just talked to another guy today that's uh, um, that decided that's the route for him to go.

Rick: 21:59

But once you started working with a coach and you started seeing this is probably how I should repair cars, this is probably what I should be doing, and decided to go down that road and started getting teammates on board, people working with you, what was the key to getting them to see the same vision? Because I know you've got an awesome culture in the shop vision and because I know you've got an awesome um culture in the shop, and that's been another big buzzword for a lot of people in this industry the last couple years. But it's not really a buzz word, it's reality. It's about how the people in your shop, your teammates, feel about where they work, why they're doing it, what they're doing, right yeah, so what was the key to you?

Rick: 22:39

getting people on board Right.

Clay: 22:43

Well, you know I I wish I could say that I knew how to get people on board right off the bat. I didn't, and I know that during the developmental years of the company I was definitely trying to keep people around, and continually. You know, vision casting over and over and over. You know there was a lot of cheerleading going on. You know, when you're standing in a 2,700-square-foot shop that has fiberglass all over the floor and we don't even own a computer all over the floor and we don't even own a computer. Or you know we have this 1950 school desk that I had a little piece of paper from. You know, one of the office office max. You know that's what I was writing estimates on. You know, and you're borrowing a paint booth and a shop.

Clay: 23:38

You know, across the street it's really hard to convince people to be oh, this is it, we're going to go after it. You know you almost have to like. You know you almost have to be a little senile and you really have to over push it. But I also at a certain point had to almost stick my head down and make a decision on well, either they're going to be with me or they're not, and I can't build it for them. And I remember, I'll never forget, I always talked about pouring a cement foundation, like no matter what. You know, when I met with my CPA I would say you know, if I owe a penny to the IRS, I want to give two pennies. You know, like, I'm pouring a cement foundation, foundation. I know how big this is going to be and I remember I you know that was like the, the key word around. We're building, we're building a cement, cement. And I'll never forget a guy pulled me off to the side and he goes clay. You know, sometimes when you're pouring a cement foundation, you need two by fours to hold the cement and then you peel them off and throw them away and I never like, I was like wow, and so it allowed me to go.

Clay: 24:50

You know, I'm trying to do two things.

Clay: 24:53

I'm trying to cast this vision of what I see in the collision repair industry and how we can rethink it and build something that's sustainable, that would be beneficial for our community, our customers, our staff.

Clay: 25:07

You know, change the lives of technicians and I was trying to do that and at the same time, also trying to convince people that's already with me to stick around and to believe in what we're doing and at a certain point I had to kind of loosen my grip on one or the other, and I will tell you that I've had probably six or seven teams in between that time and now, and sometimes you just got to let things go and the right people you know finally stick around.

Clay: 25:46

I will tell you that there was a massive change that happened recently when we hired in a company called the Table Group that found out that I'm more of a disruptor and I create a lot of chaos wherever I go, and then I'm probably not the best leader for teams. So that gave me the opportunity that some of the people that didn't stick around probably was because of my chaos and that I'm better at starting new businesses and getting things you know, visioneering and then handing it over to somebody that is more consistent in their leadership and be able to create systems and processes that people can then build their lives around and that right there, has built the best culture I've seen in 10 years.

Rick: 26:36

When you finally get out of your own way right, because every shop owner thinks'm the guy boss. This is my dream. I'm building right, but sometimes to your point, we aren't all great leaders. Sometimes it it takes a big man to go. You know what? I think that guy is going to do a much better job than I will. I'll sit back, I'll throw a little guidance in there. I'll consult with him when I need to, but I'm going to give him authority to run the shop. I've seen that, not just in your shop, clay, but I've seen that happen in other shops. It's incredible when someone actually loses the ego or whatever it is that's holding on and goes you know what. Let's go this route. Let's try this. I'm willing to try it. Boom, all of a sudden your life becomes a little bit less chaotic, doesn't it?

Clay: 27:24

Yeah, well, actually no, for me the chaos continues, you get into more chaos.

Clay: 27:28

Yeah, the chaos continues because that's what I'm designed to do. I mean, that's where we started. You know, wichita Wagyu and I'm already developing a third business that I'm working on for the future, and, and and I'm actually happier than I've ever been. In fact, there was for the last 10 years of running Best Body Shop. There were spurts of energy that I really enjoyed certain aspects of it, but the majority of the time I just kept wondering when do I turn the corner and this becomes fun? When do I turn the corner and this becomes fun? When do I turn the corner and I get fulfilled?

Clay: 28:03

And um, we hired a guy named john meese. He's our gm of best body shop now. Um, absolute no collision experience whatsoever. Um, never worked at a body shop. Um, he's a veteran.

Clay: 28:17

Uh, was police officer, I think, for six years, had a lot of uh, discipline. Um, man worked his ass off. The guy was incredible. Who hired him as a repair plan writer. He was really good at oem repair procedures and research and later on finding out that he was a really good leader. And so whenever we met with this coach, uh, over at the table group, you know, gordon asked me hey, who's a good leader in your organization and essentially what we found out is all the problems that we were running into in the point of the business that we were in at that moment came back to me and my lack of leadership and my chaos and the stuff you know. And so he was like you either can change the person, you could sell your business, or you can find a leader to take this to the next level. And of course I he did say you know, changing as a person is probably impossible. And, rick, you know what happens when somebody says impossible.

Rick: 29:18

I stuck my head down, it is.

Clay: 29:22

So I stuck my head down and I read more books that quarter than ever and I really worked off. And I will tell you, rick, I was, I was the most miserable in that quarter than I've ever been. I mean, I, I thought about selling slash, burning my shop to the ground so many times and I finally, at the end of that quarter, the same results were there and that same coach said, okay, well, you're either going to sell the business, find another leader, or change as a person. And I said, you know I'm ready to try this. You know, find another leader thing. And that was hard. You know, it's all I've known for my whole life is me doing this and to relinquish it to somebody else. There's been a significant amount of training for me to let go Right, Especially to somebody that's new to this industry.

Rick: 30:19

Yeah sure, that played probably a little bit of a part in it making that decision it did.

Clay: 30:26

It did. There was a really good book called Transitions that I read that talks about no matter what change, whether it's good or not, you experience loss, and it kind of outlines the different levels of loss. So, instead of me going through this transition and being and wondering why I feel, certain ways I was actually able to put words to it, to go. This is the loss that I'm feeling, this is why I'm feeling this way, and that was a. That was a book that our coach suggested for me. I'm really glad he did because it made the transition, even though it was it was challenging, and made it a lot less challenging it made the transition.

Rick: 31:04

even though it was challenging, it made it a lot less challenging, right, and I know you've become quite a reader since really owning this business and moving along both personally and business-wise. And if I remember right, you said a couple times you had like group reading right where your whole team was reading the same book and you were kind of almost like a book club within your, which is really funny to say for a collision shop. You have a book club inside your body shop. But that makes a hell of a lot of sense because I've done a lot of reading and I've done a lot of personal development over the years and I know that's where I grow the most is when I start learning some things I didn't know. And I think everybody's the same. You learn something you don't know. You're going to grow. You've got a group of people within a business all growing at the same time.

Rick: 31:52

Man great things happen I think, are they still doing that?

Clay: 31:55

Yeah, we've always had a book of the month that we were reading as a team and we used to in all of our meetings we had like twice a week, we would talk about what book and what we're learning out of it. And to my knowledge, I still think they're reading. But I think John has really made it more about whether you want development in your life or not versus. My leadership style was you're going to develop whether you like it or not, you know, and probably because I needed some fulfillment in my own personal life and found it in that. So, yeah, I think there's still some reading, but it's kind of cool to see some of the texts.

Clay: 32:41

You know some of the guys see, um, some of the texts. You know, some of the guys just ask you for books. You know, like, um, I've had luis, our parts manager, you know, when we weren't reading books and stuff as a team. He always knew that I'm I'm reading at all times. So he'd send me a you know a message hey, man, what's the next book I should read, you know? So I'll send him a couple books and, um, he'd kind of check up back and forth. So, but I mean for me.

Clay: 33:07

You know, I I honestly want to see and this is where the big picture, I honestly want to see the collision repair industry corrected, and part of that is not just repairing cars correctly and treating customers correctly, which I think is not happening across the nation, but also to see the technicians for who they really are, which is lifesavers. You know, these guys are reading. Anybody with any collision repair experience period or have ever stepped foot in a repair shop that's repairing cars correctly, um will know that that technician is reading repair procedures that are extremely complex. So, reading, they have to know what materials are they're working with and what kind of functions they have.

Clay: 33:59

Um, there's a lot that goes into um being a technician and and working on a at a body shop, and so I would love my big picture is, I'd love to see the collision repair industry um corrected for the technician and the employees that work there. I like for them to be seen for who they are and um, and I and I think and I've talked to several shop owners um that just think that you know the people in the back are just dumbasses and whatever, and they don't have any respect for them. I'm going and that's sad. Yeah, that's that. That's acceptable language in our industry.

Rick: 34:43

I would agree. It is a shame. And that goes back a lot of decades to. You know, I remember having conversations with my dad, you know, a long time ago, and he grew up, you know, in a time when the body shop I don't even think they were called body shops back then. This is talking 40s and 50s. You know the people that worked on cars that ground metal and lead and painted without masks up, they were considered to be, you know, not quite human. I mean their, their regard in the general public was very, very low as far as education, you know, mental stability. You know there's a lot of drugs, a lot of alcohol used back then. But the thing is is these people were craftsmen and nobody really realized it back then. And you jump up 40 years, 50 years, 60 years, and now these people that are working on cars are magicians To be able to pull apart today's vehicle and all the electronics and all the sub assemblies and all the stuff that goes into it. Man, that's not for every Joe Blow, it just is.

Clay: 35:50

Well, here's the difference. And I'll ask, and I tell you, know customers this all the time and I'll tell you, rick, what's the difference between my technician and your doctor?

Rick: 36:01

The answer to that question, and much more, will be answered next week when we conclude my interview with Clay Hobright in part two. Be sure to tune in then you won't want to miss it. Thanks again for tuning in. I really appreciate your support and I hope you have a great week. I can always be reached at wwwrixelovercom, where you can find all my social no-transcript.