It sure is a beautiful day here in Western North Carolina. This is Lucas Underwood and I'm going to be standing in for Rick today. What I want to talk to you about today is extreme ownership. Now, this is something that's made a tremendous difference in my business. And it's something that I learned from watching a Ted Talk on Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink. Jocko was commander for the Navy Seals. He tells this horrible story of fratricide. It was basically friendly forces against friendly f...
Jan 06, 2022•5 min
I want you to just think about two words. What if. There has been a lot of stuff going on here personally lately. For those of you that don't know since August, I've been having back issues. I've got disc degeneration and I have four vertebrae that have no disks. I also have two nerves that are pinched in my back. I'm not telling you this because I'm looking for sympathy. I'm not, I got this. I'm telling you this is because, (and I'm going to say this the wrong way) sh*t’s going to go sideways. ...
Dec 30, 2021•8 min
Today’s word is Erosion. What's the one thing that comes to mind when I say the word erosion? Based on that one thing, do you believe that erosion is a good thing or a bad thing? I want to tell you what I think of when I think of erosion. I think a Grand Canyon. Anybody that's ever been to the Grand Canyon knows how absolutely beautiful it is. And it's breathtaking. I've been there twice. I've been there once by myself and once with my wife. And I must tell you, when I was there by myself, it wa...
Dec 23, 2021•9 min
Today's topic is four words. I grew up in this industry in what I call the age of compliance. This is where you didn't ask questions. You were told to do something, and you did it. But today this is the age of commitment. This is where you're not going to force people to do things. You must help people understand why they want to do it with you. That's really the whole thing today. So, I want to talk about two sets of forwards that are going to help you do that. Listen along to see if you are in...
Dec 16, 2021•8 min
Recently, I was watching a Netflix special on “The Secret.” You know what I'm talking about? This is the law of attraction. If you listen to it in its truest sense, a lot of people walk away from it thinking that all they need to do is think about something and it will manifest itself in their lives. I believe in the law of attraction. I don't believe in the theory that if you think about it, it will manifest itself. That doesn't happen. I'm going to ask you for a favor. I'm going to say somethi...
Dec 09, 2021•7 min
There's so much going on all the time. People seem to think that they are losing their memory. There are some really simple hacks that can help you with your memory. So, my goal here is to give you five simple hacks that will help you with your memory. There were studies conducted that showed when you go to classes like I put on at ASTE you’ll remember less than 10% after 30 days. I'll share with you five hacks that can help you with your memory. And then I'm going to give you one extra for when...
Dec 02, 2021•7 min
There's a really cool sentence I'd like to start with, and I would like you to finish it. And it starts off with “Life is…” You finish that sentence. Write the first thing that comes to your mind. Now go on writing the first thing or at least get it on your mind. To see where I'm going with this please keep listening along!
Nov 25, 2021•6 min
I found out on Saturday that a very dear friend of mine, Bob Greenwood, passed away suddenly on Thursday. He's been a coach for many years, and I'm telling you right now, the industry is a little sadder place today because of his passing. I want you to step back and recognize a couple of different things. Number one, when somebody close to you passes, I think it's an opportunity to celebrate their life and recognize who you are today because of the nudges they gave you. Bob and I have had some r...
Nov 18, 2021•5 min
We've been talking about the brain lately. In the last episode, I talked about how it seeks to conserve energy and it wants to keep you alive to survive. I talked about the comfort zone and how that really hurts you. The comfort zone is not a bad thing. It can be a good thing. It's a good place to rest and recharge. But don't live there. Don't get fooled into the false sense of security in the comfort zone. I'm telling you that while you're in your comfort zone, life is passing you by. So, remem...
Nov 11, 2021•5 min
In the last two episodes, I talked about your brain and how it actually works against you. I talked about how it conserves energy and what to watch out for which is good enough and I’ll do it later. What I’ll talk about now is the survival aspect of your brain. The things that your brain inherently wants to do to keep you alive. The first thing is the comfort zone. Listen to this episode to hear, contrary to what others will tell you, the comfort zone is actually a good place to start!
Nov 04, 2021•6 min
In the last episode, I talked about good enough and how dangerous that term is for your business and your life. Good enough is the steppingstone to mediocrity and not one of us is ever going to create the businesses that we want by being mediocre. Step up and go for that Plus One mentality that I talked about. I want to tell you something very simple in this episode. Later is not your friend. Please listen to this. Saying, “I'll do it later” is a dangerous mindset. You are creating stress and te...
Oct 28, 2021•5 min
The biggest threat to your business is your brain. It's your brain, my brain. It's the biggest threat to each of our businesses. Let me explain why. Your brain is designed to do two and only two things. The first is to keep you alive. The second is to conserve energy. That's it. It’s a survival tool. What I want to talk to you about is an area where your brain is not your friend. I want you to think about the last time you heard yourself saying, “That's good enough.” Keep listening along to find...
Oct 21, 2021•8 min
I want to talk to you about the word example. It's really important because every one of us is an EXAMPLE. We are either a teacher or we're a warning. It's not that you're all in or not in or anything like that. That's not it at all. We are both good examples and we're warnings. We all have both within us. This is why I am so against hero worship. Hero worship is dangerous because you put people on pedestals. You're putting fallible human beings on pedestals, and at some point, they will disappo...
Oct 14, 2021•6 min
What I want to do is help you with three really simple success hacks that will completely change your business. The first hack that you want to be aware of is how you position things in your brain. If you're looking at something you're going to do and you think, I've got to do this. I don't want to. It's a pain in the butt, blah, blah, blah. What kind of energy do you think you're going to bring to that activity with that kind of mindset? What kind of energy are you going to bring? It won’t be g...
Oct 07, 2021•7 min
If you got our messages, emails, or texts, you're going to notice that the word of the week is “Crap.” That is actually not the word I wanted to use. I wanted to use the word “$hit.” Brenda and Shannon both nixed the word. So, they said I can use the word “crap” or” poop.” And I said, fine! I’ll use “crap.” The reason I said “$hit,” is to get your attention. What I want to talk to you about is Own Your $hit. And as a coach, that's one of the things that I do is help business owners own their $hi...
Sep 30, 2021•6 min
I really want to talk about the final aspect of invoicing. And I want you to realize it's a contract. Your invoice is a contract. Yes. You're going to get paid. Yes. You're going to have parts and labor on there, but you want to make sure it's complete. You want to make sure it's telling a story. In other words, what was the customer's concern? What was the cause? What was the correction? Was it confirmed? What are any consequences for any declined work documented? Are we making them aware of th...
Sep 23, 2021•5 min
I will continue talking about invoicing, but I know, it’s hard to get excited about that. Most people think profit lives on the P & L, but it doesn’t. Profit is reported on the P & L, it lives on the invoice. So far I’ve talked about connecting with your clients and not trying to impress them. And then to be CURIOUS, to make their agenda, your agenda, and to ask questions, to really understand what's going on and to understand what's driving them. And then I talked about CONTROL. How to ...
Sep 16, 2021•7 min
I’ve been talking about invoicing and how important it is to your business. First, I focused on being curious and then about documenting control. Your invoice is so much more important than we give it credit. So today, what I want to talk about is how to document properly. I’ll talk about two key areas in this episode and more in the next one or two episodes. Be sure to keep listening and see if you are asking the right questions!
Sep 09, 2021•8 min
This is the second episode where I’m talking about invoicing, the second most neglected area in an auto repair shop. In the previous episode I talked about curiosity. Today I will talk to you about Control. Most of us do not communicate properly with our clients or with our potential clients. It's not that we mean to hide stuff, but we do. Either through a lack of communication, omission, or just hoping and praying they don't realize what we're doing because we're afraid of being called out on o...
Sep 02, 2021•5 min
Today I’m going to talk to you about the second most overlooked area in a typical auto repair shop. The first area is your finances, not knowing where you're headed. That is a really dangerous place to be. The second most ignored area is invoicing, your documentation. Neglecting this part of your business is costing you money and exposing you to potential legal action. Over the next four broadcasts or so, I’ll talk to you about your current documentation and how you can improve it to be more suc...
Aug 26, 2021•6 min
Over the last three weeks, we've talked about effective communication. We talked about a framework that allows you to engage and attract the people that are in your life. The first step is to understand and appreciate. The second step is to identify. Last week we talked about the third step (I massaged this a bit), brainstorming. This week is the fourth and last step - bringing it all together. Spoiler alert! . A great leader doesn't have all the answers. A great leader has a destination. Intrig...
Aug 19, 2021•7 min
We've been talking about having effective conversations with our team, with our family, whoever it might be. Now it's time to ask a very simple question. What do you think we can do about it? You know, what are our options? When you do this together, it's collaborative. This saves you from going out to them and dictating what needs to be done. Instead, what you're going to do is come together either as a pair or as a group or as a team. For my advice implementing this approach, listen to this we...
Aug 12, 2021•8 min
We started this conversation last week about being able to communicate more effectively. And there's a few things I want to talk about today. The reason why your communication is not as effective as it could be is because you're coming to the situation from your perspective, which makes sense. It's normal. But for you to be effective, you must be able to see the other side as well. That's what we talked about last week. So, the first part of effective communication is understanding their world a...
Aug 05, 2021•6 min
What I want to talk about today is the frustration of communication. Do get frustrated when you're communicating? You know where it seems like you're talking to a wall or it seems like things don't change. And it's just so frustrating where people aren't listening, or they are not doing what you want? Do you think that you could talk to a wall and get a better result? What I will do is break down communication over the next few Just One Thing episodes. I want you to understand some communication...
Jul 29, 2021•9 min
We've talked about daily and weekly numbers. Now let's talk about monthly numbers and then annual numbers. You have to know where you are going - but also when you've stalled. So let's dig in - keep listening!
Jul 22, 2021•8 min
Let's talk about weekly numbers. These are numbers that we're going to step back a little bit. And instead of being on the ground in the forest, we're going to climb the trees and we're going to see it a little bit further. The first weekly number to keep an eye on is your gross profit number. Now I'm using that term weekly based on payroll frequency. If your payroll is weekly, then you can look at your gross profit every week. If you do it bi-weekly or bi-monthly, then that's going to be the tr...
Jul 15, 2021•10 min
In a previous blog, I talked about not having a destination and how important it is to have the clarity that destination brings. That clarity creates focus. That clarity creates blinders. That clarity is kindness. And then once we have that and we start digging our trench. Now, something you might not know about me. I've had many careers in my life, but one of them literally was digging ditches. I learned that you must stick your head up every once in a while to see if you’re still on track. Wel...
Jul 08, 2021•9 min
I want to save you from the difference between direction and destination. Think about walking in a specific direction. It’s just that, a direction. A direction is very broad. I could go pretty much anywhere That's okay, but it doesn't help. What you want is a destination. Let me explain why. When you have direction, pretty much as long as you're facing the right way it works and it can be confusing. What I want to talk about is destination instead of direction.
Jul 01, 2021•6 min
We're so focused on making a sale and on getting those numbers. I need to talk to you about one word and that word is TRUST. You're never going to get someone to do something until they trust you. You're never going to be able to get what you want until they feel like you're giving them what they want. If you make recommendations and can't tie that recommendation to something that they exactly want you're in trouble. I think about trust all the time and it's such an important ingredient to relat...
Jun 24, 2021•8 min
Are you focused on that person in front of you and their needs, or are you focused on what you need? Are you focused on what you’re lacking? Are you focused on your payroll? Are you focused on your bills? If you're focused on those things, there’s a psychological term called perception of self-interest. If I'm your client or customer perceive a high level of self-interest on your side, it makes them wary. It makes them cautious. It makes them not trust you because are you doing this for them? Or...
Jun 22, 2021•7 min
