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Real Leadership, Real Voices: Shop Ownership, Coaching, and Shop Talk Her Way [E245]

Real Leadership, Real Voices: Shop Ownership, Coaching, and Shop Talk Her Way [E245]

Chris Cotton Weekly Blitz Feb 16, 2026 20 min
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About this episode

A deep dive into the world of automotive shop ownership and coaching with Jean Ann St. Grace, a former shop owner turned industry coach. The conversation highlights her unique experiences navigating challenges like staffing, customer trust, and leadership dynamics. Jean Ann emphasizes the importance of real conversations in automotive, particularly for women, through her podcast 'Shop Talk Her Way.' The episode explores the lessons learned from ownership, the significance of supportive leadership, and the need for practical coaching grounded in real-world experiences.

Topics: shop ownership coaching leadership women in automotive staffing challenges customer trust business growth real conversations
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This is the Automotive Repair podcast network.
It's your weekly Blitz with Chris keeping you in the game.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the weekly Blitz where we talk leadership, business and the real conversations that actually move the needle.
Coach Chris Cotton here. Today's episode is one I've been really, really looking forward to.
I've got coach Jean Ann St. Grace with me today and let me say this up front.
This isn't just another guest interview. This is a conversation with someone who's lived the life, done the work and now coaches from experience and not theory.
Jean Ann is a former shop owner and industry coach and someone who brings a perspective that we frankly need more of in Automotive.
She understands what it's like to wear all the hats, owner, leader, problem solver and human being, all while navigating an industry that hasn't always made room for different voices.
She's also the host of the podcast shop Talk Her Way, a show focused on real conversations, real leadership and real growth, especially for women in Automotive.
But if I'm being honest, the lessons apply to anyone running a shop or leadership team. Jean Ann, I'm pumped to have you. Welcome to the weekly Blitz.
Hi, Chris. Thank you so much. I'm super, super excited to be here with you and to get Shop Talk Her Way off the ground.
It's been a labor of love for the last few months with you and your team as well. And so I'm just so excited to actually bring it into the world.
It's very exciting. Thank you.
Are you guys thought out there in the Mid-Texas region?
Yes. I think the final little crispy pieces of ice have melted. It was pretty cold.
I didn't sign up for this weather. If I wanted that, I would have moved to Idaho.
Me and the girls were in Bastrop, whatever, three, four, no, longer than that, five, six, seven years ago, maybe now, when they had the real bad winter there.
I'll never forget, we were living in the RV and I came down the trailer to check on things in the middle of the night.
And we had piles of snow inside the RV because the wind was blowing the snow so hard in the sides that it was just stacking inside the RV.
It was the craziest weather story I probably have. But anyway, I'm glad you guys are digging out.
You've probably had more snow than we've had in Colorado this January and into February, which is just crazy.
But I want to start with your story. You're not coming into this industry as a commentator from the sidelines.
You were a shop owner. You've dealt with staffing issues, customer expectations, cash flow pressure and leadership decisions.
Talk to us a bit about how you got into the automotive industry.
I'd have to say by accident.
Most of us get here by accident, right? I very seldom meet somebody that's like, oh, I grew up wanting to be in this industry.
Right. I grew up in the trucking industry. And so that was my expectation that I was going to go to school, get my degree and go back and run the trucking business.
In the middle of college, I met a technician and fell in love with him.
And so from that point forward, it was how to figure out how to give him the best that he could get as far as a tech.
Because his earning power, even with me with a four-year degree, was better than mine.
So one of my first jobs in college, I worked for Napa as a delivery driver.
They were awesome people, their friends to this day. And it was fun, like being in the parts industry, running around, delivering parts.
It was cool. It was fun. The people were great.
After I got out of college, we got married and it just became time for my husband to have his own shop.
There was nowhere for us to move into, so we built a shop.
I told the entrepreneurial seizure, right, of let's open a shop and then there's not a building.
So let's build a building and open a shop.
It was all because that was his gift and his talent.
And I have an accounting background, a bookkeeper.
It was just natural kind of for me to follow in as that in that supporting role.
Well, what I thought I was going to be was a supporting role, but it turned into me doing service advising, HR, all the things that he didn't do as a tech.
So just kind of like the Godfather, like when I get out, they pull me back in, but you just got pulled in from the beginning.
So I'm sure starting a shop, building a shop, having a new relationship, none of that was stressful at all.
Oh, no, no, there was, I never came away from the city planning department, not crying of, you know, just frustration, you know, learning the ropes, because it's tough, right.
And, and I think in the automotive industry, we're never done learning.
And then when you figure out what you don't know, there's even more stress of figuring that out.
So I liked the growth experience.
Like it was a constant growth experience.
There was never the same thing happening, but sometimes you just like the same thing to happen.
And no, I got this.
Right.
So what do you think ownership has taught you, like the good, the hard and the humbling?
The really humbling part is how people learn to depend on you.
How your customers learn to depend on you, how they really value and trust you.
And they're coming into you usually in crisis.
And so that was humbling to me that they trusted us so much, they literally spent so much money.
Often when they had other, you know, life challenges and they would come in and you'd have to tell them, look, you need this right now.
And they're like, okay, well, we'll do it because you told us that's what we need.
That was the humbling.
If I could go back and do something better, knowing what I know now, it would be my leadership.
Giving my team more support where they were weak and celebrating where they were strong.
I wish that I could do that better.
I could go back and fix that.
But it's the constant trajectory of learning and growing and never thinking, I got this.
I figured it out.
We have to stay open to what's next.
And what do we need to do to make our shop that much better?
Like once you're through the game of yards, then it gets into a game of inches of doing better, being better, making the next decision and implementing the next process.
How do you think being a shop owner in these experience?
How do you think that's helped you develop your coaching style and how did that experience shape the way you coach today?
I think I have a deep understanding for almost every shop owner because I understand the technician who wants to own a shop.
I understand the spouse who gets willingly or unwillingly brought into the fold.
I understand doing business as a couple because that's not always easy to have a personal relationship and maintain that business relationship at a business level.
Because let's face it, when the shop mommy and daddy are fighting, the whole team knows it.
So I've seen that ownership layer from every angle.
And when I'm coaching, I'm either coaching what my husband would have been as a single technician wanting to own a shop or I'm coaching a couple or I'm coaching a set of partners and I can kind of see the whole scheme.
And I know how busy shop owners are.
I know how thinly they're layered as far as time and energy.
And it's really giving them enough to do without overwhelming them and really being a cheerleader and supporting them to make sure they're not getting burned out, losing the plot, getting frustrated in those kinds of things.
And I think that's great.
All that experience is wonderful.
It's one of the reasons why I'm super glad to have you with AutoFix, AutoShop Coaching.
I want to talk about kind of where you and I stand, maybe not stands the right word, but we had a couple of phone call conversations early on.
And one of the things that stood out to me, Jan, early, is how aligned we are philosophically.
I think we believe that leadership matters more than shortcuts.
I think that process beats personality.
And I think coaching should be grounded in reality and the relationship.
I would love to hear your take on our alignment philosophically and what you think the coaching experience should be.
This is where I'm trying to get to, sorry.
Gotcha.
It was striking to me that you and I have had such similar paths to walk.
And so that was one thing that really stood out to me.
The next thing was that you put the client first.
Our clients deserve the best of us.
They deserve our full attention.
They deserve to have somebody who's standing on the sidelines with them, helping them coach their team and really support them.
It's all about the people, whether it's your team on the inside or it's your customers or clients or your people.
They're all your people.
And so making sure that your people are taken care of and then the business is taken care of.
It all kind of comes together.
Like I said, you've got to have good processes.
The numbers have to be good because we can't coach from numbers that are trash.
And so I don't know if I'm heavier into that than you are.
I think you're really good at getting people to give you what you need when you need it is that the numbers won't lie to us.
And then we can tell them from the numbers where to go and how to build the heart into it.
How to lift our people up.
How do we get a tech to give that little extra that we need?
Or how do we get the service advisor to answer the phone with a little friendly or tone in their voice?
How do we make it all come together and make it super juicy and good for everybody?
A win for everyone.
Yeah.
I mean, I tell people all the time, it's not about us as coaches.
It's about them and delivering what they need and getting them to where they need to be.
So this line is exactly why I'm excited about what we're building together,
especially around your podcast and the collaboration between our worlds.
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All right, let's get back to it.
So, Jeanette, I want to talk about Shop Talk Her Way.
I've been listening to the episodes you've been putting together and just to let everybody know out there.
I think we have close to 10 episodes in the can.
The first one is just coming out.
So, if you're out there, look for Shop Talk Her Way anywhere you can get podcasts or Apple or anywhere else.
But this podcast isn't fluff.
I think it's honest.
I think it's practical and long overdue.
You're creating space for conversations that don't always happen in our industry.
Leadership, confidence, boundaries, growth and what it really looks like to build a career or business and automotive.
So, can you talk a bit about not so much why we started the podcast, but why you started this podcast and what you're kind of thinking is for it?
Well, I think I have a unique voice because I've done the things once the audience gets into listening to the episodes.
They'll hear more of my story.
But we started a shop from Inception until we had to sell it.
That trajectory, I think I got the full experience.
I know what a blessing it was for us to have coaching because when we got to the point where we sold, if we hadn't had the coaching, we wouldn't have had what we had to sell.
And so, I feel like now I get to pay back everything that I received from the industry, which was a lot.
It is a lot.
I've had a wonderful life with a few pretty significant ups and downs, but the overall trajectory has been beautiful.
And I'm filled with so much gratitude for that.
I want to share my experience and my love for the industry and keep people passionate about their businesses.
There's so much we have to talk about.
The leadership landscape is changing, which is one of the things I'm really, really, I feel is important because if we take care of our people, again, I'm back to our people.
If we invest in them, they're going to invest in us and then we have growth.
And we keep them moving forward, which keeps the business moving forward.
And then every boat is lifted on that sea.
There are stories to be told.
There's things to learn.
And I think one of my big things is we need to start building businesses from the beginning so that they can be either managed or passed forward without the integral players because life changes on a dime.
And we've got to have that flex in our world that somebody can step in and take our place as an owner, our place as a technician, a service advisor.
We've got to have some mobility and depth in our team that if, quote, unquote, the worst happens, the business can go on as it needs to, whether it needs to be sold or it can be managed and moved forward without a key player.
That's the trick.
That's a lot of words to say.
There's so much to pick one, but I think my style is to be relatable and for people to really get what they need and hopefully open up some conversations.
You're very good about your feedback.
I want to be good about feedback.
I want to get shop owners in techs, have some guests on that have lived the industry and have a lot to say about it and have some really great ideas.
I think shop owners get siloed really easily and think they're alone.
And if we can start to have these conversations, they'll start to realize they're not the only ones.
And there's other people out there experiencing the same struggles, finding unique solutions, being dynamic and really help to move everybody forward and get them rolling forward.
And I think you kind of answered this next question.
But when you first started thinking about this and writing and putting the show together, who is the show for?
Who's shop talker way for?
Honestly, it's for everyone.
I have a unique perspective because I am a woman in the industry and that's not always an easy place to be.
But I think that also can be related to shop owners, any shop owner, whether you're an individual shop owner, family run, whatever that looks like.
Service advisors have a lot to learn about it.
Technicians even, I think it's for them as well because we don't always give our philosophy through our team.
The service advisors might have an idea, but do our technicians really understand what we're doing here because it's more than fixing cars.
So if we can get that philosophy kind of moved throughout the whole team and get everybody thinking and moving in the same direction and understanding the whole purpose behind it all, then those ideals will carry us, those pillars of our businesses.
And I don't think as owners, we're always really good at telling the team where we're going, how we're going to get there, and why are we barking at you about your productivity or your gross profit margin?
What is this language we're speaking?
I think I can be a translator in that way to help everybody on the team understand what we're trying to accomplish and how we get where we want to go.
Excellent.
Excellent.
I think you've done great so far and just full disclosure.
My brother and his wife started a shop and Jean Ann is the coach, not me.
So that's how highly I think of you.
Plus I don't want to do coaching things with family.
Try to keep that like answer phone calls and ask, answer mentor type questions or brother questions, but not coaching questions.
So is there anything that I forgot to ask you that you might want to say about either coaching in the industry or the new podcast?
We thought about the concept of Shop Talk her way.
It was very much about women in the industry, but I want everybody to feel welcome and included because let's face it, it's not easy being a woman in the industry.
And this is something I think I should.
We were taught, raised however you want to put it, my generation of women were taught that we needed to come in the workforce like a man and lead like a man have that top down leadership style.
Unfortunately, a lot of times our moniker rhymes with which we could lead with our softness.
We can lead with our strength.
We don't have to come in barking orders expecting people to do because we tell them to, but we can show that we can lead with with heart with understanding with compassion.
And this leadership is the leadership that everybody needs to learn.
We can't live in that top down leadership management style anymore.
We have to be with the people and of the people and really be a supportive leader now.
And I think if women can release that, I've got to be tough because I'm in a male dominated industry.
We can move ourselves a long ways forward rather than try to be one of the guys.
That's definitely a conversation.
And it's also, you know, for the men in the industry, they don't have to be tough guys all the time.
There's room to have emotion and to show your passion and to show when you're challenged.
If your team knows your challenge, they're going to come to you and they're going to support you and be like, hey boss, what can I do for you?
We don't have to be the stoic leaders anymore.
And I think that's a lesson for everyone and something we all need to do better.
As much as I love the idea of a female leader in this industry, I also want to be a leader for everyone.
And I'll say this from my side.
I'm proud to be working slash collaborating with you.
What we're trying to do is this is about amplifying good voices and good work.
And I think you bring both, you know, this has been a fantastic conversation and honestly kind of just the beginning.
We're just scratching the surface for everybody listening.
Make sure you check out shop talk her way, subscribe, listen and share it,
especially if you care about leadership that actually translates into results.
If you're interested in having a one-on-one conversation with either myself, Brent or Jean Ann,
or you're interested in Jean Ann coaching you, please reach out.
You can go to autoshopcoaching.com, send us an email, whatever, and we can get you on her schedule.
As always, The Weekly Blitz is proud to be part of the aftermarket radio network.
It's home to some of the best podcasts in our industry.
If you're looking for insight, perspective and voices that know automotive,
I want you to go check out the network and download the app.
Jean Ann, thanks for being here.
I'm excited about what we're building together and I know this conversation is going to resonate with our listeners
and your future, what's going to happen is you're going to get listeners of your own,
mention the podcast and then they're going to come back and discover this.
So for those that are here, awesome.
And for those that are going to end up here, we're glad to have you as well.
To everyone listening, lead well, stay focused,
and we're going to catch you on the next episode of The Weekly Blitz.
Remember, rise and grind everybody.
You've been listening to The Weekly Blitz with Chris Cotton on the Automotive Repair Podcast Network.
Download our exclusive podcast app at automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com
because the best conversations in the industry start here.
Want expert advice on running your shop?
Well, Chris is listening.
Check the show notes for his email and send him your topics.

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