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How To Avoid Burnout As a Auto Repair Technician | Juwan Fields
How To Avoid Burnout As a Auto Repair Technician | Juwan Fields
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About this episode
Juwan Fields shares his journey as an automotive technician, discussing the challenges of burnout and the quest for fulfilling work. He reflects on his experiences in various roles, from heavy equipment to automotive repair, and the importance of finding a stimulating environment. The conversation emphasizes the significance of networking, continuous learning, and the balance between financial stability and personal satisfaction in the industry. Juwan's passion for diagnostics and technology shines through as he seeks to transition back into automotive work that excites him.
Topics:
burnout
career transitions
networking
diagnostics
electric vehicles
work-life balance
job satisfaction
continuous learning
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In this episode, Jeff Compton is joined by Juwan Fields, a young field service forklift mechanic seeking to transition back into the automotive industry. Juwan opens up about his dissatisfaction with the repetitive and unstimulating nature of equipment repair, contrasting it with his early passion for automotive diagnostics and electrical work. Jeff and Juwan talk about the challenges technicians face in finding fulfilling work that balances intellectual curiosity with financial stability.
00:00 Career Shift: Equipment to Automotive
04:43 Automotive Challenges and Reflections
08:27 Job Transition: Oil Changing Experience
10:38 Seasonal HVAC Job Experience
15:26 Balancing Passion and Providing
18:17 Choosing Stability Over Entrepreneurship
20:16 "Keith Perkins: Expert Car Diagnostician"
23:17 Networking with Industry Leaders
27:51 "Skepticism of 'Specialty' Shops"
30:33 Prefers Diagnostic Programming Over Key Work
36:20 Brian Pollock's Repair Expertise
38:35 "Job Satisfaction Over Money"
39:59 Shop Struggles: Pay and Solutions
45:40 "Aftermarket Parts: Unreliable Choice"
46:34 Efficient On-Site Auto Technician Guidance
52:29 Life-Changing Networking Events
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Filter:
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Volkswagen Bus
"...ve can low and can high. That's it. It's one data bus and it's low and high. That's it. Right, right. A..."
Car
Ford Transits
"... of them. I worked on a lot of the smaller stuff, ford transits and E450s and 550s and stuff like that. Econoline..."
Car
BMW 550S
"...of the smaller stuff, ford transits and E450s and 550s and stuff like that. Econolines. But I mean, very..."
Car
Patriot Jeep Patriot
"...e was able to clone it, do the used modules for a Jeep Patriot or something like that. Customer calls him up and..."
Car
Bristol Bullet
"...uns like a brand new truck. But we dodged a major bullet with that, right? Yeah, but I mean, so it's a sit..."
Car
Acura CL
"...t, man? Is it like, how do you. I mean, is it the CL you pay for or is it the. I'll send. I'll send yo..."
Career Shift: Equipment to Automotive
Automotive Challenges and Reflections
Job Transition: Oil Changing Experience
Seasonal HVAC Job Experience
Balancing Passion and Providing
Choosing Stability Over Entrepreneurship
"Keith Perkins: Expert Car Diagnostician"
Networking with Industry Leaders
"Skepticism of 'Specialty' Shops"
Prefers Diagnostic Programming Over Key Work
Brian Pollock's Repair Expertise
"Job Satisfaction Over Money"
Shop Struggles: Pay and Solutions
"Aftermarket Parts: Unreliable Choice"
Efficient On-Site Auto Technician Guidance
Life-Changing Networking Events
Select text to request an explanation
I used to love doing that heavy line work. I used to love it, but I was like 22. My back is not the same.
I'm, I'm 50, right. And my, my elbows don't work good, my wrists don't work good. My, my hands don't work. I don't have any strength hardly in my hands like I should. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another exciting episode of the Jade Mechanic podcast. I. I'm sitting here with somebody that I barely know I've just been recently introduced to. So this is kind of going to be a different thing.
This is going to be. I'm going to get to know a stranger, a new friend, all at the same time as we all are. I'm sitting here with Mr. Juwan Fields, who Juwan. Say hi to everybody, buddy.
What's up, everybody?
Lucas introduced me to Juan. Oh. A couple weeks ago and said that Juan's a younger technician and he's looking to kind of make a move in the industry and he kind of helped me reach out and do some networking. So that's kind of what we're, we're here to do tonight. John, kind of tell us everybody about yourself.
Oh, I mean, where do you start? You talking about childhood? You talking about like, what do you.
Want to know right now you're working. You're a forklift mechanic? Yes.
Yeah. Sad to say, I'm a forklift mechanic. Yeah. A field service technician. Forklift mechanic, whatever. Equipment, whatever.
Now why do, why do you say that, sad to say?
Well, because I don't like it. Just, you know, it's, it, it's not as mentally stimulating as I like it for it to be. There's like more nuts and bolts and stuff and.
Right.
A lot more nuts and bolts and nasty fluid and.
Yeah, yeah. Cuz you and I were kind of talking like my background. I started out as a heavy equipment technician. Right. So I didn't really do a whole lot on forklifts. I mean, I fixed one or two, but I, I had a degree in heavy equipment technician and diesel tech and all that kind of stuff. And you kind of asked me like, why would you go to working on cars? It's not going backwards. But I mean, honestly, like, like I said to you, there's just more opportunity in my area for automotive technicians than there is for equipment technicians, I guess is what we'll say.
Right. And equipment to being more forklifts, agricultural equipment, construction equipment, you know, that kind of stuff. Man lifts. Like I worked on quite a few Melro Bobcat Skid Steers a lot of jlg, man lifts, that kind of stuff. So I've, I've kind of touched all of that. None of it I liked. I thought it was boring as hell too.
It is. It's very boring.
Yeah.
It's the exact word that I use now is so sucking.
So what about though if you got into kind of. Because I can understand where you're saying like the, the technology maybe is a little behind where the automotive stuff is. Right. And you want to get into the tech side of things. But what about like if it's a straight EV forklift, does that not get your kind of blood pumping a little bit John or.
No, we do do some electric stuff. It's just I would say the manufacturer that I'm working on right now, they don't have a lot of electrics. They're starting to get more so But I mean they only have so many things, man. They only got a few, a few motors. You got you know, motor controllers. Like a music was called like they're called vehicle managers. But it's just a, just a little microprocessor that.
Right, right.
For the inputs and outputs. But it's, it's, it's. And it's all in case it doesn't have like 40 modules like a car does. So it's just list stuff to have that happen. They only have, they only have can low and can high. That's it. It's one data bus and it's low and high. That's it.
Right, right. And so do you find yourself like are you already at the point, I would say where you're doing a lot of diag on the, on the equipment or is it. They just don't break and you don't get a good opportunity to do it.
Just not much technical diag. I mean most diet would be like oh the. My truck's leaking fluid or yeah, it would be more electronic, you know, electrical. It's just. It's like eh. It's not as you. You may get some. You know we got, you know forklifts also have propane.
Right.
Have every now and again you might have no start here or there, it's running bad. But most guys throw the kitchen sink as far as it's like only three things as far as on the fuel system that they have. So it's just not, it's just not. It's. It didn't have the like the horizon like it's not wider, you know, cars. But I don't want to ramble all over but no, previously have. Like, if I want to go back about myself, I started in automotive. Okay, so I see.
I'm 31 now.
Oh, you're young. You're young.
Yeah, right. You got. I got sock drawer older than you, son. But yeah, so I was. I actually got an interest in working on cars when I was 16. There's this white man that I met. I used to go to church and he did this automotive class he wanted to teach the young kids around. And he had his class on a Saturday.
So when I got there, it was like he had like this, this stand with a. Just a break, a spindle and a. And a brake caliber on there. But I was the only one to touch it. So I was like, okay. It was like, oh, this is kind of interesting. So what I did, I put him up to the side because nobody was interested. He didn't want to do the class anymore.
But I said, hey, man, you. You mind if I, you know, go with you on the weekends? He was already a church member, so he would. So what he did. So it turned in for like two years, he would come and pick me up from my house on Saturday mornings. We get up early and he'll take me to his house and we'll wrench.
So he'll be able to work on cars.
We'll just fix cars, customer cars, we'll flip cars. And then after that. So once, once I. Okay, I like this, you know, I got real curious. Like, he had some old books and stuff. I took him home. I got really into it. And so I ended up going to like.
So I was going into like my 10th or 11th, 10th grade year of high school, and I decided to go to Votech vocational route because if initially I was going to work on cars just to earn money, save myself money, whatever, but I ended up liking it. Plus I already hated school anyway.
Right.
Like most of us do it. They like to do stuff like that. So I, I took automotive like my first two years and then my last year I went to. I actually took diesel vocational class and I actually went to. I don't know if you've heard. Ever heard of. I think it might be a North American thing, but it's called you skills usa. Yeah, so I went there.
The competition was in Chattanooga at the time, and I. I went there. I competed against actual post secondary schools and I placed third place in the state of Tennessee in diesel, which I didn't expect, but, you know, so I was pretty impressed with this. So of course, you know, those things. I decided to Try to move on.
Yeah, see you.
To move on. Build on this. So I ended up. And when I graduated high school I. I went to Tennessee technologist and I went to little technologist school for about a few months. But the school part again got boring. But when I was in school, I got a job working changing oil at a IKEA dealer. So I did that.
I was like, well, I got a job. I'm sorry, I got a job changing on. So I said, well, I know I can work my way up anyway, so I. So I just, I kicked the school and started working full time as an oil changer. And I got bored with changing oil quickly like yeah, I think you would, very quickly. So I went straight to flat rate. And then I was like, man, is this stuff really like this? I didn't really have the support I needed, but so I did that for about two years just, you know, trying to see how the industry is and they got it. It got toxic real quick.
And I was like, yeah, can't be like this. Everybody around me telling me mechanics make this, this and that, you know. But anyway, so I went to work on working GSE for a little bit ground equipment at our local airport. I'm from Memphis and I tried that and it's just, you know, fleet work. I'm like bro, this boring. So I. After that I went back to automotive for a while. And so in between all that, between there and now, I did a lot, I moved around a lot trying to find the grass is greener, but I wouldn't understanding how the industry worked and how the different types of shops are structured.
Yeah, I had to learn all this on my own. And I did finally find out what I liked. It was around about 2018 when I started working for Pimp Boys. I did like. I didn't like the chain store, but I like the different vehicles. It gave me the variance that I needed. So I ended up getting they incentive. They incentivize getting ASEs.
So I went and got. Man, I was, I was two away from master. I got them in two months because I was motivated to get them and I got them and I got like a two dollar raise and a small percentage raise. I was supposed to get a larger. They had this weird little pay system that they had, but I didn't get it. So that was so discouraging. But I was doing. I started doing a lot of troubleshooting.
I liked it. I mean I wouldn't necessarily as good, but I was the only person that was that wanted to tackle it right but after not getting that stuff, man, I, I, I got discouraged and I went to work on school buses because it was, I'm assuming there was, you know, paying better and, and they did let me come in. They paid me more with my ASCS at the time, and it was like 2018, so. And they was paying me. They brought me in making like 27 on, you know, 27 an hour for a young kid my age. That's pretty good, right? But because they brought me in literally wanting, literally just, they just let me do AC H VAC and electrical work. That's all it, that's all they wanted me to do, which was nice. But it dried up quickly because it was really only seasonal.
And we're being a fleet, we're keeping school buses going, and they're only doing patchwork or they slow to get stuff.
Okay, so when you're at Kia, what did they have you do then? Because you kind of said you got it exposed to the kind of the toxic side of this industry. But did you feel like they weren't holding you back or you, you, did you get to do anything kind of cool, like, or would you. Were you stuck doing a bunch of those two liter engines or.
Well, I think I started like most. You start doing recalls first.
Yeah.
And shoot, at that time there was some different recalls before all the engines came about, but I started doing recalls and slowly getting whatever tickets. They kind of just let me just, just do whatever. Like, if I feel like I wanted to do it, then it's fine. Which that was a great part. The learning was fine. But, you know, you in automotive, you got to pay for that learning. I didn't.
There was nobody, There was nobody.
Like, there wasn't any structure of learning or a mentor mentoring or anything like this. So that was like. Yeah, that was, that was terrible because I was, then I was only making like 11 bucks an hour flat rate. I went from $9 an hour changing oil to 11. 11 bucks. Bus now after that.
Right? That's kind of brutally.
Yeah. So they just, it's like literally just threw in the fire. Like, I know that was lava. That wasn't fire. That was.
So you go to, you go to the bus garage, you get your ASCs, you go to the bus garage. Big bump and pay. Right? Yeah, but what, what's, what did you, what did. I mean, that's cunning. I would think that'd be a little bit boring too, because that's the same stuff, you know.
And like I said, those patterns, I wouldn't realize until I Got older. But yeah, it was pretty boring because, I mean, most of the time all the buses will go out because they're going to get the kids and everything. So if it was something down, then you could go and fix it. But the biggest problem was like, if you, if I was to go do something like a compressor drop or something like that, they really didn't, they didn't stock parts.
Yeah.
So it's like it was a lot of sitting around, standing around and you know, and then depending on what kind of manager you have, you got to look like you busy and I can't stand doing it. Like you actually give me work to do it or just let me go home.
Yeah, I'm the same. I'm not gonna like, you know, I'll keep my work area clean, but I'm not gonna start painting walls and scrubbing toilets and stuff to, to make it look like I'm earning my paycheck. Right. Like, I'm a mechanic, I'm not a janitor. So, you know, if you're not gonna, if you're not gonna give me cars to fix, I'm just probably gon, you know, because.
Right. Yeah. Just let me go home, you know, so.
Why. So you kind of see your, your story is not so similar, dissimilar from mine, because I'm in the same thing. Like, I started out, you know, on the equipment side of things, and then I went into the truck thing and I bounced back and forth and I worked in a, I worked on a bus fleet. Like it wasn't a school buses, but it was, it was tour buses. We did big pre bowl motor coaches. Um, I didn't work on so much of them. I worked on a lot of the smaller stuff, ford transits and E450s and 550s and stuff like that. Econolines.
But I mean, very similar. And you're right, it was pattern failure. And like, you know, we just kept the buses safe to be rented out. Like we, we didn't have to go into big, big repairs too often. You know, like brakes, front end, that kind of thing. You know, batteries, starter, air conditioning, nothing too heavy. But you kind of got bored and you, you keep wanting to challenge yourself. Which I think is pretty cool.
Right? Because you're saying like you, you want, you love this technology that's out there and you want the challenge of fixing it. But yet, John, you've seen how the, the harder work can sometimes pay less.
This, you want me to speak on it? Because I guess you speak on whatever you want, man.
This is your platform.
That is the single handed, most difficult part about. While I'm back and forth with it because I don't need a lot to live on, but I want to make enough. I have a, a woman I'm trying to marry in a three year old daughter, man, I want to be able to provide, but I still need to be able to at least be able to satisfy that curiosity enough because man, I feel like I'm, I'm wired a lot differently than most people because a lot of people are motivated by money and I'm just not. Man. Man, like I've made, even at a younger age, I've made more money before, you know, doing other jobs, but it just wasn't enough for me. I just, I couldn't, I just couldn't stay interested enough to do it, man.
Yeah, yeah.
Like it would literally make my. I would feel like my freaking flesh was crawling, you know, just.
You think you're addict. You're addicted to the challenge.
Yeah, it's. This is a real huge dopamine hit.
Yeah, huge.
Like when I get home, man, I gotta do other stuff. I don't go home, watch TV, huh. I'm in my garage playing with my 3D printer, messing with electronics, books on electronics. Just constant knowledge, man. I like to grow, I like to. Every day I want to learn something.
That's the, that's the kind of attitude you, you need to be able to successful as a diagnostic, you know, drivability tech in this industry. You have to have that insatiable appetite like my friend Brian Pollock. You know, I don't know if Lucas has spoke to you about him. He's that way. He goes home at night and he reads like the engineering level papers on, on, on a General Motors, you know, fuel injection system. He reads the, the, all that, the ISOs, the ASEs. Like he reads all of that stuff. He's writing some of the text test questions now for the ASE tests.
Like he's that level, you know what I mean? Like he's, the guy's brilliant. He's. He's like a walking encyclopedia. He knows everything. And if he doesn't know it, he, he's almost like he, he, he won't tell you he knows it. If he says he knows it, he 1000% knows it. If he doesn't know it, he still probably knows it, but he doesn't. He's like 2% that he's not 100% sure on.
And then he won't say he knows it. He'll, he'll still be able to tell you how to fix the car. He's incredible. He's that way. He's just a. He's a him for information. He's incredible. And that's, that's what you need to be.
To be, from what you tell me, where you want to go. You want to go into doing, you know, specializing and drive building, electrical and going into this, in this industry. So you kind of want to move away from the forklifts and go back into a car shop.
Yeah, it's just interviewing the right ones that'll support, you know, the goals, man. Because I honestly would rather keep the stability and the insurance and all the good stuff than to go and even chance another shop. Hell, I would rather try to, to go mobile part time on my own until, you know, then, you know, it's just the shop. Like, I would, I would rather not run my own business because of all the other, you know, hurdles, but when you get pushed against the wall like that, it's like, man, what do you do? Yeah, what do you do when you hunger for something? But.
So did you side work on weekends?
No, I'm working on, like I said, I'm working on trying to get this stuff together. I'm getting. I have most of the accessories that go with scopes. I got a couple budget scopes and everything. I got most of my test equipment. It's just getting. Figure out how to get people. I don't know people here.
Like, I've only been here in this area for about six. About six months, I would say.
Okay.
Over six months. I don't, I don't know anybody here.
Right.
But I still had to put myself out there. But I was really just going home. I was, I was exploring some other stuff before I decided, okay, well, maybe I should, you know, I've been going between a bunch of other different stuff because I was already into some of the other smaller hobbies. I thought, you know, I want to do this other stuff, but it's like my heart keep telling me, hey, man, this is what you need to do regardless.
Yeah.
So, yeah, that's key.
You gotta listen to your art. You're set up with a scan tool, some scopes.
Yeah, yeah, I gotta, I have a. I just got a. I just bought a Cardec 3 interface so I can start programming. You know, just, you know, you know, I'm just gonna start slow as I can. A lot of money, but no, my money pretty decently.
So. If you remember Keith Perkins, he was on a recent episode. He's actually on a lot of recent episodes and kind of talked about his. What he did is he kind of started out where he went around to other shops and said if you've got a car that's problematic for diag that's kicking your butt or whatever he was offering his services to be able to say like I can diagnose the car. I can do programming and stuff like that. That's how he got his name made. And then he. Now he's the go to person in Oklahoma for, you know, and arguably some of the most of the country for.
For tough diags and programming. Right. Like, he's just a, he's a machine as well. Him and Brian are two of the same unicorns. That's kind of somebody that you could, you could reach out to and kind of model your. The way you approach it. But that's my suggestion to you is if, like, if you're not getting a lot of that stimulus at the job, but the job is secure, you got to use the rest of your hours of your week and don't go too big too fast, but, but make yourself and say like, hey, you know, I. I'm trying to learn this kind of stuff.
I'm good at this. This is what I want to do. You know, can I, can I program a car? So maybe it starts with a Facebook marketplace ad that you say, you know, like, not that you want to be just another quote unquote, mobile mechanic. Right. Because people will be wanting you to go over there and put brakes on a car. Right. And that's. Yeah, yeah.
You don't want to be doing that, I can tell.
No, no, it's repulsive at this point in my life.
But you, you want to be thinking about like, how do I, how do I market myself that. That skill set. And I think that's going to be with other shops that don't necessarily. Maybe Juan want to invest in that kind of thing. Can use you to do it. You know what I mean?
So, yeah, I'm slowly building up. Like I'm doing a lot of research on, you know, I'm trying to prep myself to, you know, of course I need to get out there and actually, actually go and talk to people.
Yeah.
Just making sure I got everything I need as far as resources to go back to, you know, if I, you know, if need be. Because I'm in Keith's, you know, his. I have his subscription. I've been, you know, the big, I don't know, the big, the, the pinnacle teachers, the pinnacles of Automotive training like Paul Nanner's. I have his ebook.
Yeah.
And I've been, let's see, I have, I bought a couple of Brandon Steckler's books, his diet diagnostic book. So I mean, I have all this stuff. I have all the tools because. Excuse me, I have all the tools, the mental tools, the books and the physical tools. So it's just a matter of now just of course, practicing with it. I go out, I go out there on my own vehicle and do a little testing. But I mean, I can only get you so far. You actually need some stuff.
You kind of name some pretty important people there. Brandon Steckler and Keith Perkins and, and Paul Danner. And they're all guys that like, you know, can all guide you with. If you, if you network and reach out to them and start talking to them about how you, you make that your career. Because I think I can. You definitely should. You know, if that's where your passion is, is in challenging yourself to do diag and drivability, then that's for sure what you need to be, you know, pushing towards because it's. You got to be happy with what you do.
If you're not stimulated at your job and you're not like, you're just bored with it, you're never going to be happy no matter what they pay you, you know.
Well, not everybody is receptive.
Well, why do you think that is?
Well, I've reached out to a few and just with simple question. I don't, man, I like to ask a lot of questions, but I, I may come off as weird to some people, I would say, because I have so many questions because I wanted, you know, especially when I want to get. If I see someone that's already where I held remotely well, you know, that's already where I or I want to be. I just want a piece of the path.
Yeah.
But not everybody is, you know, open to talking that much. Maybe because I don't have a network of, you know, automotive.
Some. It, it does take time, I'll say that. And some of them, like the, the, some of the circles, it's hard to get them to, to open up to you. I'll say that I'm kind of like there's, there's people within the industry.
That.
Don'T, they don't, they don't feel me. They don't like, they don't, they don't like me. They don't like what I'm about. And then there's other people that like completely get it and they Know what I'm about. And it's like I can say this, that sometimes it takes like just a certain amount of time with networking. You have to be able to prove that you're not just like a. How do I say it? No. A DIY kind of rank, lazy, you know, beginner.
Okay.
Like you gotta. They want to see effort. They want to see like that you. Because it's not a case that people don't want to help. It's just sometimes it gets to be pretty elite. And what may seem like as a perfectly normal question for you to ask for all of them, they might be like, oh, how do you not know that? You know what I mean? And then, and I've been guilty of that too, way back in. In. And when I've been networking with people, sometimes is that I, for.
I, I forget. And, and sometimes what gets lost is sometimes the way we ask. It seems like we're being lazy, but it's just the way we talk. Right. And. And I can tell you that nobody wants to share a whole lot of their secrets or the hard earned stuff that they've had to learn with people that don't want to do the work themselves, you know?
Yeah. When you ask questions, technical questions or like just career questions, like trying to get back. It's usually when I ask.
It's.
It's not technical questions because. Okay, material is there.
Right.
It's just, you know, the trying to get like the recommendations of dealer, you know, or hell, I've even considered moving again.
Yeah.
You know, maybe down the line if, you know. But I'm just. I would rather find the right shop.
Yeah. As we talked about how you, you talked to Eric, I mean, that guy had to make a very long move. He had to leave New York and go to North Carolina to Lucas's to find his fit. You know what I mean? So there's lots of technicians I know that have moved several states to get the right kind of job, you know, where they fit. So I mean, and that's. It's. It sucks you have to do that. You know what I mean? I'll.
I'll say this. My local area pretty much is. Is a. Is a wasteland of good opportunities. You know, there's jobs, but they're not like. They're just not great. You know, like we were talking. I work at a used car lot because it's the best job right now in my area.
Yeah. I didn't. I was. You told me that. I was actually surprised, man. I thought she was at like A specialty shop or something?
No, no. I mean, there's no. In my area, there's no such thing as a specialty shop other than, like, there might be a specialty shop that says, oh, we're a European specialty shop, but I've seen some of the work that they do, and they ain't special. You know what I mean? Like, they're nothing shoddy. Well, you got to think, like, Joanne, sometimes the quote unquote, not the dealer specialty shop, all they really are is just a cheaper alternative or for a customer that's okay with less quality. You know what I mean? It's not running down anybody. Yeah, so that's kind of when I see the specialty thing. It's always like, with asterisks, like air quotes, like, okay, you're a specialty shop.
What's your door rate? Like, if you want to be a true specialty shop, say on euros, your door rate should be at least whatever the local dealer is charging, at least, if not more, Right? Because of the. You should have to buy more tooling, all that kind of stuff, take more training. When they're. When they're doing it for $30 less an hour and they call themselves a. A euro specialty shop, I just roll my eyes because, like, I've seen you not putting on the dealer parts. Then you're probably not using the dealer software and the dealer scan tool. You know, you're. You're.
You're somebody that's getting through, fumbling through, but you're not. You're fumbling through at a huge expense to yourself on how long it takes you to. To get to the root of the problem. You know? You know, understand the whole idea of pattern failure in the dealer. You've worked in it, right? Like you walk out to after you've done so many Kias or whatever. You know what the car is. As soon as you scan the code, right, you know where you're gonna go next. Where these guys that are in these specialty shops, right, you're working on something that's 3, 4, 5, 6, 10 years old, all that.
The guy, the dealer is already on to something completely new, different. You know, you're hoping that you're starting to run into those pattern failures, but really what you're into is you're into nightmares because the pattern failure didn't fix it. And now you're into starting over at ground zero. And yet your customer doesn't have any budget or doesn't have the money or the finances to actually fix this type of car. That's what I see the Trap for specialty shop. I don't want any part of that. None. I just, you know, give me a.
Give me a shop where I work on everything, that's fine. But make sure you pay me well enough to work on that. And we have to have the tooling to do it.
Yeah.
So. So if you go out on your own when you do, because I think you should and you will. Is there something that you want to stay away from? Certain car lines, certain brands, certain types of jobs or.
Well, I'm. I'm actually learning to open up to, you know, more any brand. But specifically for me, this type of work. I would rather. There are some people in some groups that talk about. When you talk about the diagnosis program and in keys. Only reason I would rather do, you know, the programming is if it's, you know, part of, you know, the diagnostic process, you have to replace a BCM or something. But I rather not do any key work.
I'd rather just do diagnostics, the electrical repairs and, you know, programming, you know, if I have to. And of course, a little bit of drivability. But sometimes drivability can get sticky. It can't depend on, you know. But of course, I just want to build a reputation that this guy can figure out what the issue is.
Right. Right.
I don't want to do any big liability. No timing builts, no time.
Yeah.
Things and yeah.
100.
I've had my time doing it, man. I'm tired of it.
I don't know.
Yeah. 31 is still, you know, still young. But when you do it so long, it's just. I used to love doing it heavy line work. I used to love it. Used to. But I was like 22.
Right.
My back is not the same.
I'm. I'm 50. Right. And my, my elbows don't work good. My wrists don't work good. My, my hands don't work. I don't have any strength hardly in my hands, like just from years of doing this. Right.
It doesn't matter. So I, I totally understand where you're coming from. I'll. I'll tell you this. What I know from some of the guys I talk to that are mobile guys is that easily 50 of their work is programming and then probably another 25 is probably keys and the last 25 might be actual diag.
Yeah. That. That all that. It almost bothers me too. I just, that's why I'm like, why can't I just have a shop that just builds for diagnostics and I can be efficient enough. It.
Well, because one, it's. It's rarely is the. Is the juice left in this for the squeeze by the time they get to it, you know what I mean? Like, the. The budget's already completely shot, right? It's had the parts cannon thrown down. It said four modules put in it. You might be the second guy to go there. There might be three shops, all that kind of stuff. There's just no money left.
You know what I mean? It's not a situation of they can't fix it, but whoever you're fixing it for may not have the budget. You know, like Brandon Steckler, some of his case studies are great, but you got to remember, like, those are years that he's amassed those. And those are always, for the most part, like customers that have no choice, but that has to be fixed.
Right.
And then it's like when I talk with my friend Jake Barnes and Jeff Barnes, they talk about, like, their car lots because they're into it so deep, they have no choice but to fix it. And then it becomes these. These nightmare cars. They get to the bottom of it, sure. But it, like, they. They're. If it wasn't for the programming, the keys money, they wouldn't. They wouldn't be able to survive on those cars because it just, like, they have eight hours into it, you know, they.
They bill six. Like, that's good. But even like check engine Chuck, when we were talking in Lancaster, like, two weeks ago, he can go out there and do a programming job for 250 bucks. 30 minutes, and he's there and gone in less than an hour. You know what I mean?
Yeah. So, I'm sorry. I was just gonna say it's. It's kind of one of those things where the. Well, like the way we say it down south is, you know, the. It's the bread and butter. You know, the. The programming is part of it, but the keys is where you just have to take the chance.
You know, you just have to take the opportunity to get the bird, you know, get the. Get the gravy.
Yeah.
And then that helps you keep. That way you. You keep money where you can take some diets here and there. And so it's. That's the thing I have to been. Have been trying to learn, growing up, you know, with having the type of patience to accept certain realities. I mean, because this is real life here. It's not, you know, any fairy tale.
And there's always a downside to everything that's physics, right? So there's no complete be all you.
Know, Yeah, I, I, I think what you're seeing is, like, you would love it if you just had one challenge after another, one problem, car after the other.
It ain't happening.
And financially, it took care of itself. Right. But what I'm, I'm giving you a cautionary tale here that in the real world, I don't, I don't mean that with any kind of disrespect at all. Please don't take it like that.
I mean, I'm not millennial, but, man, damn.
In the, in the greater, greater scheme of things, you can't have a steady diet of that because financially, fiscally, it just doesn't work.
Right.
You know what I mean? Like, are you familiar with John Thornton? Do you see him on or not John Thornton, Bernie Thompson on YouTube. Do you ever see him?
I binge to watch Bernie Thompson stuff. That man is analytical.
Oh, he's not. Yeah, he, he's like, way up, right?
Yeah.
But I would love to know how many times he goes like. Because we see that, we see the jobs that he posts, the case studies and whatnot. And then it's like they all look like slam dunks to him. Right. In the way in us. But there's got to be some that are just so routine and easy for him. It's not even worth turning the camera on. You know what I mean?
Yeah.
And that's. I think so. He's the one guy that I can think of off the top of my head that I know is probably going out there, like, to those shops that, like, they have no choice but to fix it now. They've already messed it up, and it has to be made right. But I still think he gets a lot of them that are so easy that it just, it's not even turn the camera on. And that's, that's, again, it's his bread and butter. I think that's when I, When I talk to a lot of the guys that I've talked to, that's what programming for is for them. Right? Is you just go up and Brian Pollock was just talking about.
He's got one, they did a used module, so he was able to clone it, do the used modules for a Jeep Patriot or something like that. Customer calls him up and said, the engine codes that were still are, that we were there before, why we changed the module are still happening. You didn't do it right. Brian's like, whoa. Like, it's, It's. You guys misdiagnosed the car. You're putting. Essentially, they're Putting an ECM in for an intake runner manifold, you know, variable runner length problem, that's going to be the problem.
Because it's got an aftermarket motor on it or something. Right? Like an aftermarket intake. It's probably misdiagnosed. But what I'm saying is, like, if you just immediately said, no, I don't want to do that job like that programming, you wouldn't make any money. And then you would go over there and you'd be. It ended up being like more like a. An argument with the customer, you know what I mean? Because they, they went with the 200, you know, cheaper option instead of just buying the OE intake that came and put on the car. Now they're going to be thousands of dollars into parts that are misdiagnosed and having it towed over and fixed.
So what I'm saying is if Brian just went to them and said, nah, I'm not doing that job because I don't want to program, he wouldn't get the diag. You know what I mean?
Yeah, right.
Yeah, yeah.
Someone. Someone told me that. Yeah.
Yeah. So. And again, I'm not, I don't, you know, I'm not a mobile tech. I'm not a diag tech. I mean, I'm a diag tech, but I'm not a mobile, you know, like, I just, I diagnose and fix cars. Like, that's what I do, you know. And then some days I just do very routine, basic stuff. Like, if you looked at what I do most days, you'd be like, how do you do that? I'll tell you how I do it.
I do it because it pays better than the last shop that I was at where I might get in a Euro car with a drivability problem or, you know, and, and for less money and less respect and less, like, the end of the day, where I'm at right now, they treat me better and appreciate me more than somebody that I worked for in a long, long time. And that's like. So again, going back to. It's not about money. That's part of the, part of the appeal of why I stay where I am because they appreciate me. Yeah. So going forward for you, I think you're gonna have to find that balance, you know, of you feel stimulated, you feel challenged, but at the same time, like, you can, you can cope. Because I know some of the guys that have went way hard into the paint on the, on the, you know, one nightmare car after another, bro.
It'll burn you out, man. Yeah, Not Saying you can't do it. I'm not saying. John, please, buddy, don't think I'm saying that. You're not.
You just, you, you just sound like some of the other, some of the other guys just. It's just being realistic about it.
Yeah.
Like a lot of them don't even make, necessarily, even make a lot of profit off of the dad cars because of the time being spent. And you can only charge so much.
That's right.
It already starts at the shop. You know, the customers, you know, not want to pay for testing and some other shop owners that already don't even want to pay their technicians a good way. So you want to pay you to come and, you know, so, I mean, I get it. It's just, it's just one. It's just like, like I said, growing up and coming to, coming into terms and just take it when you can get it and just, you know, and saw and take the biscuit and sob up the gravy as much as you can. So, you know, so you, you can allow yourself to, you know, unless I just, just say screw it and just start buying cars on Marketplace instead of. They just keep.
Yeah. Fixing them up and flipping them. But I mean, that's, that's going to go back to your heavy line stuff, which you really don't want to do. Right. Like, you want. Yeah, yeah. You want to stimulate yourself. I understand it.
I just, I, I'm. I want you to think about, like, finding the balance. And then like when I, when I say that, you know, you feel like sometimes people are a little closed off to you or don't want to give you the guidance and, and help. Just give it time. That's what I got to say about that. Just give it time. Because they'll, they'll figure out eventually that you, like, you're, you're legit and you, you want to work hard and you want to do well and you're not like you can offer things in return. That's what a big of it is, is like the smaller the group becomes, the less that you can kind of put your hand up and, and give them answers.
You know what I mean? It's never like we're, we're giving each other answers anymore. Right. We're just spitballing ideas off of each other all the time. Like, I got one, you know, like, I was talking with Brian and, and Zeb and Tommy in a group the other day, and we're talking about. I've got this Duramax diesel that, like, they Put gas in the tank, like unleaded gas. So it's, it's a 2025 Duramax with a 3 liter, like the baby Duramax. And we're talking just like, how am I gonna. What's the first step in fixing this? What's the worst case scenario that it could be? It could get bad.
We lucked out and all we had to do is drain the tank and fill it with diesel.
Oh yeah.
And put, put a treatment in the tank and the truck runs good now. Runs awesome. Runs like a brand new truck. But we dodged a major bullet with that, right? Yeah, but I mean, so it's a situation of like, they're not giving me answers so much as they're just talking. We're, we're keeping everything in perspective. Like it could go really bad or it could go really good. And, and it went good, you know, and that, and that's sometimes with the networking all you're really going to get anymore, Juwan, is as your skills come up, people are not going to give you answers. They're just going to give you kind of guidance.
Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And, and you don't need answers. You're smart guy. You can figure this stuff out. You just kind of always want that. What I find we're leaning ourselves on is it's like they just need a little bit of, I gotta step back for a minute and have a different set of perspective. Look at this. What do you guys think of this? You know, if you had one that was doing this, what would you do? Those kind of conversations happen a lot.
You know, I don't ever have to go to them and go, I got a code like, tell me how to fix it. You know, we don't, we don't, we don't have to do that too much anymore. You know, brand new cars. Yes. But you know, stuff five, six years old. Nah, they've all seen it, done it, you know, they know it. Like, I'm very lucky that way. So.
Yeah. And you got to think like, all the guys I know that still say, like, they do the mobile thing and they do the, the diagnostics especially. There's still certain car lines they don't touch or certain jobs they don't touch. Like, who was I talking to? And they said, parasitic drains, they never bother. Don't even bother unless you're in a shop.
I don't know. Somebody said, I won't do them a lister in the shop. Yeah, yeah, leave it overnight, you know? You know? Yeah, yeah, that's understandable because.
Well think about like if you. Every time the car gets moved around, you know, and you come back and you look at it again, like you essentially have to stage the car all over again. Right. Get it in the lockout, get into your measurements and all that kind of jazz. Like that's not something that lends itself to. To mobile very well. Right. Unless it's in a bay and nobody touches it.
But then even then you don't know. Right? Like all these shops that say, oh yeah, we won't touch it, we'll leave it there.
Oh, BS because wait a oil change.
Like they're going to push that thing out.
That bay needs to turn our. So you can whatever.
I know. And then when I talk with Brian, a lot of the time, a lot of the guys don't even get into too much anymore Diag from the drivability standpoint they get into a lot still of the programming because I think it's like, like Chuck, Chuck engine. Chuck will tell you too. A lot of time when he gets a phone call and somebody's asking him, you know, I've got this code and we've put this part on, it still broke. The next question is where did you buy the part from?
That's next question.
Yeah, right. So you can talk yourself out of a lot of jobs just by going and, and having that conversation. So where'd you get the part? Because then the guy's gonna go so I should try a dealer one. Yeah. And he thanks. Click hang up. You made zero, right? 10 minutes on the phone, 100 bucks gone. Whatever you want to think about it.
So a lot of guys I know they have to get very okay with the idea that they show up. My friend Matthew Skunders talked years ago, he went over to look at a I know Chrysler product that had a brand new crank sensor fault. Crank sensor in it and it still had a crank sensor fault and an intermittent stall and all this jazz and he promptly shone his light in there. It's an aftermarket part. He asked him. It's an aftermarket part. He said yep. He said that's not gonna work.
No, see you later.
And he collected his 150 bucks. He drove on a guy that was riding with him at the time's like that's all you have? That's all you did. He's like yeah, that's all I'm gonna do. Like I'm not gonna hook it up and. And yank a signal off of it and compare it to a known good somewhere and try and show them. He just says, I've been there, done that. I know it won't work. And I tell them that's what it has to do.
But he still collects his money. You understand what I'm saying?
Right?
If you're the guy that's answering the phone and walking them through like a tech line, you're not gonna make any money, you know? Whereas if you go to them, test out what you can test out, tell them, collect your money and go. That's what they're. That's what they're using you for. A lot of the time is just that reaffirmation that says, yeah, identifix says use, you know, only an OE part. But we had a mobile guy come in and he said the same thing. So now we're gonna put the OE part on, or now the customer can't fix the car because the OE parts, like three months backward, you know, that's the other thing. You still got to collect your money.
Yeah. I mean, I don't see the challenges. And that may be part of some of the realization once I actually get out there and see some of the challenges. Like I know I still have to make money.
Yeah.
So I have a little girl. She's so. She. Yeah, Daddy, Daddy, daddy. So, yeah.
Cute as could be. Man, she was funny to see last night. Yeah.
Yeah. A little devil. So most of the time. But that's. I guess that's a three year old.
I guess that's a big motivator though, her. You know what I mean?
Yeah, Yeah. I grew up. I'm not gonna go far into it, but yeah, I grew up a single mother and two brothers.
So. Yeah. Right. So what do your brothers do? Do they. Do they have any kind of car interest at all?
No, no. My little brother is. He does something for the Iris. It's nothing crazy, but.
Okay.
And my big brother, just a general laborer.
Okay. Okay. Yeah.
Now, my family didn't. No, they don't have all that ambition. I'm probably the most ambitious one out of all of them.
You know why that is?
Why is that?
Because you're the middle child.
Really? That 100.
My mom. My mom is a middle child and she outworked her older sister and a younger sister. It worked. Them both, without question, twice as successful as they ever thought about being. Just, Just. That's the way. Middle child. I've seen a lot of middle children that.
That's just the way. Because I think it's like the middle child, the role isn't always as defined. So they overcompensate because I can't, I can't name names at the moment. They escape me. But I've met several people that are middle siblings and they're. And they're driven the way you are like that. So, you know, that's my, that's my theory based on knowing you for a little bit, why I think the way you are. Which is a good thing.
Juwan really is. In closing, what I want you to do for me is I want you to keep reaching out to the people like we talked about. Right. The shout outs and stuff. Like you get one. Do you have shout outs you want to give?
Hell yeah, man. I go to. I want to shout out PJ Walter. Yeah, man. Lucas on the wood. That dude is.
Oh God.
It's like he's, he's, he's. Is the word. Genuinity, whatever the word is, but anyway is unmatched.
Yeah. And I met a lot of people in this industry and a lot of people in my lifetime and I've never met another person like Lucas.
And Lucas is. Yeah, for that man right there. But. And let's see. Actually, Brandon Stacker helped me out a little bit. He actually put me in contact with someone that Eric Walker that does a lot of the training. He's actually, you know, he's. His shop is like 30 minutes from mine, but I'm not gonna get into that.
But his shop is a flat rate shop. But I was like, I don't, I don't want to do flat rate, bro. I just, it's a, it's a mentality.
Thing and I, I understand. Exactly. I'm right there with you, man. It's 100. You know, if I never did a diag or a drivability problem again. Sure, why not? No problem there. I'll make money. But as soon as you're going to give me that level of work on flat rate, I'm gonna.
My head just goes in a different direction. I'm not pro. I'm not productive. It's. It's just I, I can't do it anymore. Used to, used to do. Well.
And one more guy. Isaac Rodale, is it?
Ro. Diesel. Yeah, Rodell. But yeah, Isaac Rodell this.
But he's. He actually took some time out as well. So you got a few people that are. That are kind of open, I would say.
So I'm gonna ask the question. We got in September, we got. Coming up, we've got Asta, the, the trade show, the expo, the Big training event, right?
Yep.
Is there any chance you can make that?
What is the. I mean, I don't live a far living. I live about an hour from Nashville, so I'm just right into Kentucky. I'm actually about a six hour drive from Lucas's shop. So it's probably about maybe less than eight hours or so. I don't know, but I probably would just fly, but. Well, how much is it, man? Is it like, how do you. I mean, is it the CL you pay for or is it the.
I'll send. I'll send you the link and. Because I don't. I couldn't tell the exact numbers of what it's going to cost. But we've got three months and let's, let's try to think about how to get you there. I'll talk to Lucas and I'll talk to some other people and try to see how to get you there, like cost wise and whatnot. I think that that's going to be a pretty important one of those kind of shows. One of those kind of events is going to be pretty important for you in your career.
I think you're at that point where you need to, you need to be exposed to the people that go to those events and what they can guide you with and show you. And I think it'll be. I know when Lucas took me in 22, it changed my life. And I know, like check engine Chuck, I coerced him into going last year into Austin. We sat down and had a great conversation and, and like he was just in Lancaster with me, you know, two weeks ago he went to Tools and it changed his like he's, he's a completely different. It's not, it's not that he's a better tech now. It's just he, he had an awakening about how important these events are, the networking and all that kind of stuff. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna work with Lucas and see how to get you there, so.
Because I think we need to get you there so that you can kind of get a feel for what the next step for Juwan is going to be.
So you gonna be mature. Don't do that.
Hey, if you could do me a favor real quick and like comment on and share this episode, I'd really appreciate it. And please, most importantly, set the podcast to automatically download every Tuesday morning. As always, I'd like to thank our amazing guests for their perspectives and expertise. And I hope that you'll please join us again next week on this journey of change. Thank you to my partners in the AESAW group and to the Changing the Industry podcast. Remember what I always say. In this industry, you get what you pay for. Here's hoping everyone finds their missing 10 millimeter, and we'll see you all again next time.
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