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Shop Owners: The Best Investment You Can Make Will Surprise You

Joe Marconi

Entry posted by Joe Marconi in Management

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I am going to borrow a quote from billionaire, Warren Buffet, “The best investment you can make is in yourself,” This statement, while simplistic, speaks volumes. A shop owner is much more than a boss, a shop owner is a leader. And leaders are solely responsible for the success of their team. This means that you must work hard and commit to a life of continuous learning and improvement. It also means that if the team fails, a leader must always blame himself or herself for that failure and find ways to improve.

For your business to flourish, you must invest your time and energy in understanding what your role is in your company. It also means that you must be committed to continually improving your level of competence. This does not mean that every task is your responsibility. However, it does mean that the buck stops with you. If your business is not where it needs to be, or you are looking for increased growth, then it is your obligation to do the hard work and set goals, have the vision, perform the research, and develop the plan to achieve your overall objectives.

When you invest in yourself to become the best leader and the best businessperson you can be, others around you will feed off your energy and your passion. This sends a strong message to everyone on your team that you have what it takes to bring the company to the next level.

One last thing, another obligation to your company is assembling the right team of people around you. Once you have the right people, you need to invest in them too. Find what truly motivates them, not what you believe inspires them. Be a coach to your employees and always strive to bring out the best in them. Be strong with your convictions and expectations, build strong relationships with your employees, and don’t be afraid of admitting when you drop the ball.

While Warren Buffet is best known for making billions of dollars with his investment strategies, I want to believe that this quote has its basis in something that money cannot buy.

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Transmission Repair

Transmission Repair 401

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I agree with you, Joe.  I like the Warren Buffet quote, “The best investment you can make is in yourself.”  I think the quote not only covers shop owners, but it really covers anybody who believes in continual education.  During the first half of my career, I would attend technical training events.  The second half of my career, all my training was sales, management, and marketing training.

I feel I made the transition from a working boss to a real business person only when I started attending non-technical training.  I believe non-technical training is crucial for a business owner.  Think about this:  For every given market area, there are shops that stay packed with work and there's also shops starving to death.  Not coincidentally, there are shops that are the highest in town and shops that are the cheapest in town.  The dichotomy of these two extremes can be found in EVERY market area.  Based on my experience, the busiest shops also tend to be the highest in price, while the shops starving to death are normally the cheapest.  Which type of shop do you want to be like?

If you want to be the shop that's always loaded with work, you can't get there from here without investing in sales, management, and marketing training.  Great business people and leaders aren't born, they're made with training.  Proper training can help solve a multitude of challenges a shop may be going through.  Take staffing for example.  What top tech wants to go to work for a cheap shop that's starving itself to death?  By the same token, how can a shop afford a compensation package that attracts, hires, and retains top talent?  I firmly believe that a shop can attract, hire, and retain top talent only by being the very highest priced shop in their area.  I don't mean being equal to the highest-priced shop, I mean BEING the sole high-priced leader.

A lot of problems can be absorbed by having substantial revenue.  Like providing a free rental car during a warranty repair.  Or giving a customer all their money back if they are impossible to appease.  And the list goes on.  When it comes to running the shop, a shop owner can't afford to be a great leader with insufficient revenue.  Anybody can be a boss, but not everybody can be a great leader.

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