Young Techs Need to Listen to THIS! Andrew Gonyou’s Journey and Thoughts

My plan was always to go back to the tire shop that I'd worked at. I'd worked there during the summers and he'd let me do more and more mechanical work and I was still working with the older tech there. And we had had some issues, had some days where whatever, I'd do something he wouldn't like and he'd just kind of sulk and wouldn't hardly talk to me for the rest of the day and I wouldn't feel like I could ask him for help without him feeling like I was inconveniencing him terribly.

You were threatening him?

Yep. And I mean, I don't, as far as I know, he wasn't on Flat Rate, but I think he still had that mentality.

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another exciting episode of the JD Mechanic podcast. So it's later at night, Just a little bit.

Yeah.

We're still here in Raleigh, North Carolina at AST 2024 and I have a good friend here with me tonight that this, this recording is pretty much taken about a year to happen. Andrew Gagne was with me tonight and last year he kind of was like. We kept saying, okay, we're going to record, we're going to record, we're going to record. And then you know how these conventions get. It gets to be like 11 o'clock at night when you might get some free time to be able to record. Well, sometimes people go to bed, sometimes people have too much to drink. That wasn't him, that was probably me. But welcome.

It's good to finally have you here, Andrew.

Thank you. It's great to be here. I've been looking forward to it and I was hoping it would work out this time.

Yeah, yeah. It's funny, these, these are events are like I say, these events. I can't. I've never been to anything but Asta. This is my third year here.

Same for me.

Yeah. And it's a life changing. The first year I came, thank you to Lucas was like I haven't been the same person since. And coming up I go to SEMA and Apex and that's been like. I've wanted to go to SEMA since I was a 14 year old kid. Sure, you kind of, you haven't really given me any kind of clues but your backstory is pretty.

Yeah. I started in this industry when I was 16, so I worked, I applied to actually an Ace Hardware and they gave me a job and the same week I heard back from a tire store I had applied to and I just thought that Would be something cooler. So I was like, sure, I'll take it. And I. With my school schedule, I could only go in on Saturdays and they were only for half a day. So I actually just found one of my pay stubs the other day. It was 9. 25 an hour for four hours a week.

So I was really rolling in the dough. But that was a good way to get my foot in the door in the industry.

And what kind of year was that? What two would have been two.

2016. What's the year?

So even think about that, 2016, less than 10 years ago, we're starting young people out in the trade. 9, 25 an hour.

I mean, obviously I had zero experience and I was super, super part time, so I don't begrudge them for that at all. It was, yeah, you know, small town tire shop.

So you started there doing what? Any sweeping, cleaning up, doing some tire work.

They pretty much threw me. And doing tires and oil changes and stuff like that right away. We do skid steer tires, farm tires, tractor tires. I've done a couple split room tires, unfortunately.

Yeah, they're kind of sketchy.

Yeah.

Everything went well. Still got all my fingers and toes, but. Yep. And tire repairs, winter tire changeovers. That was a big thing. And then obviously on any breaks that I had during the school year, summer break, winter break, I would go in and just work basically full time there and do what I could and learn as much as I could.

Where is this located?

I was in a small town in Hastings, Michigan.

Michigan.

Yep.

Yeah. So you kind of familiar with the north like me?

Yeah.

You kind of know what it's like.

Oh, yeah.

Michigan gets some weather. Get some salt.

Get some rusty salt. Yeah.

What now? So did you kind of grow up with other people in the. There were car guys or car people or like, did you have an uncle that was a mechanic or a father or.

Not exactly. I mean, my dad was an accountant. My granddad worked for gm and then before that he worked at an auto body shop painting cars. And obviously when he was younger, he did all his own work on his cars. And my uncles and even my dad did a lot of work on their own cars, but none of them did it professionally. My uncle was an engineer, and my other granddad owned a tool store, so that was almost okay. More where I came into the industry was I just like tools because I grew up around them and.

Yeah.

Learned about tools more than cars.

Mm. And then go to the tire shop and kind of after that you get the bug.

Yeah, I guess. It just seemed like a good career path. And I liked working with my hands. I knew. I always knew that I never wanted to sit in an office or do anything like that. I wanted to do something with my hands and just.

Were you a student? Because, you know, sometimes the dynamic or what the.

Oh, I struggled in school, I think. I'm not saying this to be prideful. I think I could have done anything I wanted to do. I mean, if I had applied myself. Yeah, whatever. I had good grades and didn't have any issues in that aspect, but. But I just wanted to do something physical. But in this field, as I've learned, you can do a lot with your mind too.

So I think that's helped me as well.

Yeah. Yeah, I. And that's the thing for me, like, I always learned that, like, I could see the window because when I started out, I was always working with, like, texts were old even then. And I say old now, but I'd be like 18. And they were already late 30s.

Right.

That seemed to be. And the boss was already, like, late 30s. So they were established. They already had going on, like, say 20 years in.

Yeah.

They're starting to get to the. To the window of where they're. They're most effective. Right. Physically. So I watched these kind of older people, and it was like, okay, so he still. Or she is still being really relevant because they're smart. Right.

It's not just about, like, how fast can they go? But, like, they're, They're. They've. They can see shortcuts. Like, it's kind of like they can close their eyes and still see the pathway. That was always. What I was always about was like, I gotta have a secondary plan, you know?

Sure.

Because I'm not. I'm not a fast tech. I mean, I can get some jobs done for sure, but I'm not the type. Like, if you throw. If I put my bolts in a certain order, you take and mess them up that order.

Same way. I like them organized. And.

Yeah. Then I'm really sideways. Like, it's more. And it's more of a mental thing. If I would just stay cool, I'd be fine. But it's a mental thing at that point.

God darn it. Like.

Yeah. So you go to the tire store. What was that like, to come in as a young. Were they good to you?

They were great to me. Like, the boss. I'm actually. I was friends with his granddaughter. I ended up marrying her. So I'm still friends with him. And we talk and. Yeah, he's a great guy.

I was a great guy to work for. Super, super organized and kept on track of stuff. Obviously, he was somewhat of the older generation of shop owners, but I know that in time, if I had wanted to come to an event like this, he would have had no problem sending me. So he was a great boss. And the people there, for the most part, were good to me. There was the one lead tech like there is in every shop that had been there for 20 years and thought he ran the place and kind of did. And yeah, so eventually they split ways. But, yeah, for the most part, they were always willing to teach me and help me.

And some days I just watched one of the guys do alignments. And so I watched him do probably a couple hundred alignments on a hunter machine. And without any other training, I went and took my ase alignment test and passed it. Just from having watched and listened and have him walk me through it, that I could see the angles just from watching. So that was a good experience. And I really liked working where there and with the people. And I didn't mind the work. I wasn't.

I was never what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. But, yeah, it was enjoyable to me.

So how did you evolve out of there?

So then when I graduated high school, I went to tech school for two years.

Okay.

I went. Actually went down to Tennessee for a tech school there. So I grew up in a small Christian school, and there was actually a Christian college that had a tech school. I thought that would be cool to go there and have a good environment to learn instead of just partying all week or anything like that. So that was. It was okay. I made some good friends and learned a lot. They were just starting their program, so it was kind of a bumpy road there.

But, yeah, I worked in shops there and they were fine. Again, I was mostly just changing tires and oil and sweeping up. But the biggest thing that came out of that was one of my teachers named Danny. He introduced me to scanner Danner. And so if it wouldn't have been for him, that probably wouldn't be where I am now. So I remember we were just in class one day, it was a slow day, and he showed me a video of Paul with a lab scope on a fuel pump showing where you could see the dropout in the signal. And it just blew my mind. And I was like, there's people that can, like, see this and test this and not just smack the tank with a hammer and.

Right. Yeah.

Figure out that's what's wrong with it. So then I just. Every night, pretty much, I would go home and watch Paul's videos.

And yeah, it was such groundbreaking stuff back then, right? Because think about now with everybody, how they all want visual proof, right? Like, it's one thing to say that I did a test, but now everybody wants to see the test results in such an amazing place where it's like, I can just download that to my scan tool, put it on a file, send it to the customer via an email, a text, whatever, messenger.

Mark it up in your photos.

That's right.

Drop pointers.

Paul was so ahead of the game, so he built the game, right? He doesn't like me to say that he don't like it when I get on here. And, like, because to him, he's a very humble man. He doesn't see himself. He knows whose shoulders he stands on, and they're amazing people themselves. But he, like, we so much resounds now with. With so many people, and they're like. They come up to me and they're like, the first video I ever saw. Paul, you put up on a Facebook group, and it changed my trajectory, right? I had a guy tonight at the Go Kart track, and he's like, we talked to you and I 10 years ago.

He says, you don't remember me. He says, I asked a question in the Facebook group, and he says, you roasted me terrible. He said, you made me feel like, you know, because he said, I came looking for an answer and you wouldn't give it to me. You gave me the lesson that I needed to learn how to find the answer myself, but you wouldn't give me the answer. And he said at the time. But he says, once I started to get to know you, he says, I saw your podcast. He says, all makes sense now.

Teach a man to fish, right?

That's exactly it, dude. And it's like, so, you know, I have my detractors, sure, right. But at the same time, it's like, I think people are finally starting to see now where my heart lies, Right? I don't want to give you the answer. I want you to find it. I want you to get that lesson from that. And I learned that from Paul. That's 100% who taught that to me. Not that he was trying to teach it to me.

It was just how he conducts himself and how he carries himself. That's what I wanted to do. And I didn't do anything special. Like, I'm not gonna make content and show it to people. I just shared the heck out of his and everyone else's that was doing the same thing. You know, Eric O and Daniel Sullivan, way back from the, you know, the. What was his tool? The low pro. Like, I used to share a ton of his stuff.

Now that's a sad story in itself. Okay? But I mean, like, the man was brilliant and it was functional stuff that it was like, hey, this is what the fundamentals are here. This is what people need to learn. You shouldn't need to come onto a Facebook group to ask, why is my car broken? That's for the DIY segment. If we're going to conduct ourselves like professionals and want to improve this industry, because that's what it's always been about for me, we have to conduct ourselves like that. Which means that I want to be showing people how to get the answer, not just give them the answer.

Looking for a test or an idea, not the end answer.

So you found Scanner Danner?

Yep.

And that was. Changed the trajectory of your career then?

Completely.

Yeah.

Even before then, like I said, a lot of the techs I grew up with were older and all this stupid technology, all this stuff. And then from just watching Paul's videos, I could see, well, this is actually pretty cool. Like, there's a lot we can do with this and learn and see. And it's almost, in some ways, I think there was just a post in the group the other day about, is it easier to diagnose a car now? And I think it is. I mean, if you give me an OBD1 car, I'd have no idea. I'd be completely lost.

There's still. OBD1 is still so whack because it's like, think about it, it's still like saying, well, it's still saying it's lean, but it's not saying what bank is lean. Like, when is it lean?

Different lean. Yeah, 30 seconds ago.

That's right. You know, is it lean like, it can't help you. It was such a basic oxygen sensor, such a basic PID rate. Like, it was terrible. You know, I struggled with it. And then it's like once you learn the fundamentals about. It's still an engine now, it doesn't have a carburetor sitting on it anymore. It's got this stupid looking throttle body on top, but I mean, which is kind of like a carburetor, but not really.

I struggle with that because. And where it struggled with for me starting it was. It's like the lot of the shops then seem to be like a holdback like we're supposed to have a snap on brick to work on, you know, a 1987 Chevy with a throttle body. We don't have the brick. So we're going to go out there and just try to look at it. And you'd see guys would be, where do I put the screw in the throttle body to try and make more fuel come in? Like, how do I, how do I do a fuel pressure test? As all of a sudden they didn't know. It was like, if they got flash codes, I'm not gonna want to buy a brick. They should be able to give me flash codes.

Well, what's the flash code tell you? Not a whole lot, man. That is where it was at even back then. So I, yeah, I'm 100% with you. The more info that they can pack in that PCM that I can access with my tool, I find the easier it is to fix. Not necessarily faster, but definitely easier, you know.

So then I graduated college and my parents wanted to get me something and so I looked on ebay and I found a snap on Vantage Ultra. I was like, that's what I want. I want a lab scope. So that was my graduation present from my parents and.

Right on.

Forever be thankful for them for that. So then I got done with school and my plan was always to go back to the tire shop that I'd worked at. I worked there during the summers and he'd let me do more and more mechanical work and I was still working with the older tech there and we had had some issues. Had some days where whatever. I do something he wouldn't like and yeah. Just kind of sulk and wouldn't hardly talk to me for the rest of the day. And I wouldn't feel like I could ask him for help without him feeling like I was inconveniencing him terribly.

You were threatening him.

Yeah. And I mean, I don't, as far as I know he wasn't on flat rate, but I think he still had that mentality.

Yeah.

You know, I gotta get this done.

Yeah.

So.

And this young person shouldn't be eclipsing me.

Sure.

In the relevancy of what the technology work on, because that's what it is. I never like to say that the young people are smarter than the old people. Smart is relative to what it is you're having to fix or apply yourself to it. But I went through that where all of a sudden I was like, I'm the 22 year old and there's a guy that's 42, he's worked on this brand 20 years, and I get his comeback because he can't fix the car. Why doesn't he fix. Because he's just not comfortable with that process. He's not comfortable with the data. That's what.

And I'm just like, heck, man. Yeah, sure. And then when it became like people here, that became my badge of honor. That became so much my identity was like, I wanted to be that Go to guy. Give me all of it. Give me the most. You got a hard one. Give it to me.

Most of the time, it, like, I'd be two hours in. I'm like, this car. I'm not making any money, but like, I lived that.

Yep.

Where it's like, this is my. This is me. This is what I want to do. I want people to go down there, go. God, he could be a grouchy bugger, but he fixes it every time. Yeah. He can find it. So.

So I guess another story jumping back between finding scanner Danner and then another story that just kind of shaped who I am, I guess was. I remember had a truck and had a lean code for one bank. And I went to this older tech is like, well, what should I do? It's running lean on this bank. And I had, you know, very. I can't remember if it was lean or rich. I guess now I had a very basic understanding of scan tool data. And I was like, the oxygen sensors this way or the other. He's like, well, it needs an oxygen sensor.

So I was like, okay, put in it didn't fix the car. And what I had failed to tell him was I noticed a little bit of a misfire when I pulled it in.

Yeah.

And it was just dumping raw fuel out. And that was why the oxygen sensor was skewed and just kind of realized that trouble codes aren't part numbers.

Right? Yeah.

And up until that point, I mean, that was kind of just what I had seen was, oh, it has this code. We'll do this and that. And then scanner Danner just kind of shaped my understanding of the way that.

Things were supposed to be way back then. Like, I can remember parts were so cheap. Right. And it's not like I shotgunned a. An oxygen sensor at every car that had an oxygen sensor code. But, like, I can remember my days in the dealer. Like, we. Unless the first thing you walked over, if there wasn't a software fix, you just put an option to sensor.

Because the reality was like, as while you're under there, if you did happen to See, like a wire issue, that right there, he just fixed it while you were there, you know, and nobody was none the wiser. Now, I'm not advocating for that, but my defense for that is when I'm only given 36 minutes maybe to do the diagnosis and it might be one of them upper ones in the back intake, right? Like back exhaust manifold, it's hard to get in there to see it in 36 minutes and do the testing. So I was going to fix the car either way. Nobody was none the wiser, Right? And what's the reality? How do I do that? Then? If I go and fix the wire and then we clear the codes and it runs through a drive cycle and it comes back, still got the code again, I can, I'm now putting that in for free because nobody will believe back in the day when we didn't have a cell phone that there's a picture of. Here's the chewed wire. The customer's like, you just ripped me off. I just. All I ever needed was nonsense or I was just like, darn if you do, darn if you don't.

I'm good with it, right? So. But I didn't like, you know, really learn how to diag effectively until I was out of the flat rate mentality. I thought I knew how to do it and I could, I could still, I could still volt drop and I could still, I could read a wiring diagram really good and I kind of understood. But my understanding of, like what the data was telling me from what the engine was doing didn't get to where it was until I got her to the dealer because she already knew. What does it sound like? What's it smell like, what's it feel like? It's going to be, you know, burnt bows on a caravan, lots of those. I did burnt valves on a 3.5 and a charger or a 300, lots of those. You just knew how it felt. Right now I'm out of the dealer game, but you see a lot of the hemis with the lifter failures and three sixes with the lifter failures and stuff.

We all start to know now what that sounds like and what it feels like. And I say to people all the time, it's good to do the test and know how to do the test and be able to interpret. But your eyes, your ears, your smell, your senses, right? Still your biggest tools, man. That and being able to critically think. So, yeah.

So then I, like I said, I came back to that shop when I got done with school. It Was actually in the middle of COVID So that shows you how old I am. I was finishing college in 2020 and so I came back to the shop and this was the first few months of COVID And so the shop was super slow. We didn't really know what was going to go on. And so my boss is like, well, you can stay here and just kind of, you know, try and do what you can. Or I just bought this other shop an hour and a half away. And so it was two separate buildings. One was a tire shop and then the other side was a mechanical shop.

There was one office, but the two shops were separate. And he's like, I think you can do it. I want you to go down there and be the lead tech and service writer for the mechanism mechanical shop. I'm at this time. I haven't even turned 20 yet.

Right.

And so I was like, well, if you think I can do it, I'll give it a shot. And so I drove for six or eight months. I drove an hour and a half one way every day to go to the shop. And there was one other tech when I started and he was the main alignment and suspension tech and he was about my age and he didn't last very long. Eventually he just stopped coming in. I don't know if he got tired of having to do what I said or what.

Right.

And so I just kept on doing what I was supposed to do. I was the one for any of the mechanical jobs. I was the one writing quotes, writing the tickets, generally talking to the customers. I didn't do any of the scheduling or cashing out or anything like that. But I would contact the mechanical customers, do the repairs and then send them back up front. And that was a challenge. I didn't have a whole lot of experience at the time. And eventually I just came to a point where I felt like I didn't have the self confidence to be able to take on bigger and harder jobs, being there by myself.

And even if we were to hire someone that was more experienced than me, it just wasn't going to work out that I was going to be over them.

Yeah.

So I had to have a hard conversation with my boss and be like, look, I love you as a person and a boss and I want to help you out here, but I just don't think this is where I need to be right now.

90 minutes each way.

Yep.

It's a lot of time behind the.

Steering and I mean, I had a company car and gas and everything, so that wasn't an issue. And originally the plan was for me to move down there, but I was just used to my family and everything else and I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. So I was like, I think I'd rather just stay where I am and make the drive. And you just get used to it.

Yeah, yeah. Becomes part of your day.

Yep.

You know that I. I talk all the time. It's like I've had some jobs for a while where there was like a bit longer commute and like, yeah, you got the radio going, whatever you're listening to. Like, you didn't have podcasts to listen to way back then. Like I say way back then, but not the way we do now. Not. We're not carrying around Spotify and every in our pocket at any point that we want to listen to anything. And I just.

That time behind the steering wheel sometimes gives you good time to think, you know, and it was. I needed that at the end of day a lot of the time. Right. To be able to like decompress and process. Yeah. You know, like, okay, I had a. I had a car or I had a co worker that day that like pushed me right on the edge, man. I was ready.

I pushed that button and just. And that time that whereas sometimes when I only had a two minute commute or five minute commute, I would just lose it. Just like I don't have time, you know, I'd get pent up and by the time I would get home, I didn't have that decompression time. And then I go home and then when I don't have anything else to focus on, I go back to focusing on it. I've learned not to. I'm better now at not taking work home with me. I used to be terrible at it. That's what made me so such a tech that wanted to learn so much because I would take my work home.

Look at wiring diagrams on the couch and everything else. Yeah, been there. Still do it sometimes when there's that car that you just got to figure out and won't let you go.

Yeah, it's tough. It really is. And intermittents were the worst, you know, because then it's like if you can't get it act up. Like there were so many times people like, listen, now I love an industry like, if you can't get it backed up, don't waste your time. Well, back in the day, it used to be expected that that was our problem, not the customers. If we couldn't get ACT up, we must be Doing something different than them, we better figure out what it is and make it act up. And now they're just, like. With the way we've gotten good in our industry about our better, about charging, valuing ourselves, we start saying, you want to spend 500 bucks for me to drive around? No.

Okay, well, then let's wait till this becomes a little more.

It's not a safety concern.

Yeah, you'll be fine. Yeah, Yeah. A little more problematic, a little more pragmatic. It happens a little more often before we start to tackle this, because otherwise we're going to spend a lot of money. We might not make it anywhere. Yeah, it's. Those were the ones that kept me awake for sure.

And obviously, I left that job in October. You're from Canada, I'm from Michigan. Winter was coming, and I was either gonna have to move or I was gonna have to leave three hours early to make it there in one piece. So. And so I had a couple contacts from church, and they had told me about a guy that had a diesel shop, diesel pickup truck shop, that was probably 10, 15 minutes from my house. And one of his employees had just left, and he was looking for somebody. And so I stopped in there, and he's like, yeah, if you're interested, we can make something happen. So I went from working on anything and everything to just diesel pickup trucks, things like that, and had to learn that whole game.

And I was, I think, my first week there, I helped the other tech there pull a cab on a 6 4. And then the next week, they said, there's a 60 that needs an engine out there. You're putting it in. So. And we got it done. Yeah, ran. And that was a good shop. The guy I worked with, I'm still good friends with.

He was a great guy to learn from. He was my age, and he had been working there since he was 16.

Right.

He didn't have a strong technical background. He'd pretty much learned everything he knew there. And so it was one of the three major pickup trucks. I mean, mechanically, he could do it. He wasn't the best electronically, but I had that. A good background in that. So, yeah, I was able to teach him that, and he was able to tell me. I mean, to this day, he could still tell you all the bolts you have to take to get any of the cabs off any of the trucks.

So we helped each other out that way. And I learned from him, and he learned from me and just grew together, more or less there. So been there for a few months. And it was at my boss's, basically was at his house. He had a heated barn with a few bays in there. And he and his wife ended up splitting up. And she was the one that did all the paperwork, all the business stuff.

Right.

And so things begin to get worse. And just parts and stuff weren't getting there in time, bills weren't getting paid, and I probably should have left then, but I was like, well, we'll see what happens. Maybe we'll get better. And so I just kept working there. And a couple of months later, he said, well, she's going to get the house in the barn, so we're going to have to find a different place to work. And like, okay, we. We have a few months, so we'll be fine. So it's getting closer and closer and closer.

And meanwhile, his wife still was working in the business some helping out with the front desk sometimes. And we talked to her, and one day she's like, yeah, the deadline is the end of this week. And we're like, it is?

Really?

Yep. And so we went to our boss and we're like, you know that have to be out here by the end of this week. I think it was like a Wednesday. He's like, no, no, we have till the end of the month. That's what we said. And like, okay, whatever. I mean, you know, and he came back probably an hour later. He's like, well, guys, we kind of have a problem.

And at this point, he had already lined up another shop, but we had to move two bays and a tool room and two trailers worth of parts in two days to a new location and get all set up and then.

Network with your customers to be like, hey, yeah, you come by where the barn is, we're not there anymore. Yep, right.

Absolutely.

We were just having a conversation about that today, about how at some point I'm gonna have probably a series, and the subject's gonna be like, how important it is in this industry, in anything in life, but who you choose is your mate really has a. Has a massive effect on the trajectory of your success. You know, I don't know how we're gonna start to approach it, because maybe people won't be 100% comfortable talking about it, but I think it's a thing because I meet so many technicians and they're like, either I worked for somebody and it was terrible because their dynamic as they were going through something just made the whole workplace toxic or baby mama drama, you know, Like, I know a really talented tech right now. You probably Know of him too. And he's had to. Like, he went to. He left an amazing shop. Went to a really amazing shop.

He's now going to go back to the amazing shop. This room that has all to do with baby mama drama. And I. My. It breaks from my heart because. Super talented guy, right? But choices, right? Yep, choices. Things that seem at the time, like, euphoric and forever. I'm a little bit jaded.

I don't think that anything necessarily. I want to think that it can last forever.

Gotta work on it.

You got it. It's like anything else. You have to apply yourself. So what, you go and move on to the new shop?

Yep. And we worked without lifts for a couple weeks on jack stands. I mean, we weren't pulling cabs or doing anything like that, but we did the work that we could. Eventually we got Lyft set up and the shop organized, and things were starting to get better, starting to make some money again. And, I mean, I could tell stories and stories about jobs that we took on that we shouldn't have. But, yeah, save those for another episode if you want. Eventually, it was getting to the point where the finances, we could just kind of feel we're getting out of control. We're having late paychecks and things like that.

And again, probably should have left at that point, but I was like, you know, my boss, he. For all his faults, he was a great guy. I mean, I know to this day he would give you the shirt off his back if he had it. And he always treated us really well. Always had fridges stocked with drinks and bring us donuts and treats and stuff like that. Whether he was trying to compensate, I don't know. But he was. He really was a great guy.

And I didn't want to leave him hanging. And I kind of. I'm a creature of comfort and don't like to get outside my comfort zone, I guess. So I was comfortable there. I was confident in my place in the organization and knew my standing and what I could do there. And so I just stayed. And eventually, I wasn't married at the time. My coworker was married, and he's like, well, I just can't keep up with this.

Like, something's gonna happen. Like, I'm gonna miss rent and that's gonna be the end of it. So he ended up leaving and I stayed on. And so at this time, I was making decent money and I still enjoyed the work that I did. And so I stayed on by myself for a few months. And then things just Kept getting worse and worse. My boss wasn't there a lot of the time, so I was the only one there. And you'd see there'd be a truck.

I can't tell you the number of trucks we had with the cabs off on the lift for a month, waiting on parts. Parts for some reason.

Money to come in.

Yep, exactly. Rob and Peter to pair. Paul.

That's right.

Another truck that needed an engine. And once we got the money for that one, we'd be fixing the one that was on the lift. And it was just going downhill from there. And I was like, I can't. I could see the writing on the wall and knew that I need to get out. And I was still kind of trying to talk myself into it. And I don't even think my family at the time knew the whole situation, but sometime in that point, I had started listening to. I guess it was the ASOG podcast at that point and some of the other podcasts.

And so finally one day, I just messaged Lucas. I remember I was torquing the axle nut bolts on the red LV7 on a creeper, just messaging back and forth with Lucas. And he was like, yeah, like, you need to get out of there. And I had already seen some ads for some other shops, and so I was like, okay, I'm just gonna have to talk to my boss. And there had been a couple other times where I'd been really close to just saying, okay, I'm done. And I just couldn't do it. And finally I was like, I guess I'm gonna have to do it. So I waited a couple days, thought about it, and the shop owner that I was going to work for, I had actually met in a Facebook group, one that you were part of for maybe an hour or so, if you know what I'm talking about.

But. And he had messaged me.

Trying to remember. There's been a couple like that that I last about an hour, and then it's like, yeah.

But he had messaged me a few months before that, and his shop was probably 45 minutes away from where I was, and I was like, well, I don't really want to drive that far. And so I think I didn't even respond to him. And then finally, when things were going downhill, I was like, well, I should see what that guy had to say. And so I went and looked at his shop, and it was a really nice shop, and he seemed to treat his people well and had a good culture there. From what I could tell, just talking to him and seeing what he had to say online. And then I remember seeing an ad he had posted and I was talking with him and I looked at this ad and it was talking about all the benefits they had, AC and the scan tools and all this stuff. And time went by and I went back and looked at that ad and I just kept thinking, that's my job. Like I don't want somebody to take my job, I want that job.

And so I finally went to my boss and at that point I was the only licensed tech there. Where Michigan is somewhat like Canada, you have to have a license there. And so there was only one other tech there and he was only part time and my boss's licenses had all expired. So I was the only tech that could legally work. And I thought it was going to be, you know, some big drama like, well, okay, I'll do this or this to get you to stay. And no, he was just like, okay, I understand. You got to do what you got to do and you know, at your life. And I understand.

So that was it. And a week later, it was my last day and I was moving on.

So yeah, it's, it's funny like for cuz for me up in Canada, if I want my license to expire, I pretty much just have to not pay the renewal fee. And that's it.

Yep, that's where we are.

And it's like when I think about it, it's like, so wait a minute, I could, I could hold fast on principle of some stupid thing and let that expire. And then when I think about the work that it would take to get it back, even if I had to sit down and write the test, I'll write them tests again.

Yep.

Right. Or even if it's worse, where it's like they maybe don't even want to extend you the opportunity to write the test again. Sorry, sir, we're not going to allow you to come back and be the certified trades person again. For me, if I write the tests and I get this, I'm just, would pay the renewal, just be able to keep that. Right. And I get both sides of the argument when people like just because you passed then doesn't mean that you're still. I 100% agree. I worked with a lot of older techs that like on a carburetor and a set of points.

Drum.

Awesome. Drum brakes. Yeah. But now you give them like go diagnose that can problem. They're like, no, there'd be no way. Right. I didn't want to get there. So it's like, to let my license expire was never something that, like, I've ever even entertained the idea of.

But it's so funny because it's like, in the end of it, they went back to work the next day, Right?

Sure.

Yeah. It's crazy.

It's. It's obviously a lot less intensive where we are. You can go into the Secretary of State and take all the tests in an afternoon and yeah, be a licensed mechanic. So it's not near as rigorous, but. So that's maybe why people let them lapse, is they know they can get them easier. But. Yeah, I just thought with all that was going on, there'd be at least an effort to try and keep me stay.

Yeah.

And no, there wasn't. So then did I end up working at the shop I'm at now with Corey Rosema at Rosema's Auto. And when I went there, I again, still wasn't super confident in my abilities. I actually told him that I made less than I did because I didn't feel like I was worth as much as I was making at the time.

Right.

So. But with the benefits and everything, it evened out. And I ended up making, I'm sure, about the same. And that was where, I guess, I had the most opportunity to grow. I've been there two and a half years, and I've gained a lot of confidence and learned what I'm capable of and get to go to come to events like this. I never would have had the opportunity to otherwise. So I guess my biggest reason I wanted to do this was just to show people that if you look around, there are places out there. I mean, where I'm at now, I've got to drive 50 minutes, one way to get there.

And I'll happily do it, because the culture I love and my boss and just the environment, it's 100% worth it.

I tell the story when I left the shop that I left last September, and I. I was fired because my attitude had gotten to where I was like, I was. I was angry. I was certainly not paid enough. I had bought a Zeus scan tool because the shop wouldn't buy a scan tool. We had 2022s in the fleet and nothing to do with, like, how is it going to diagnose sliding door problem on a transit? Yeah, you can't do it doesn't work. So I was not in a good headspace. And so when he sat down with me, my boss, and said, we're going in different directions, man, that's why I'm letting you go.

And I knew it was bolt. I knew why. Because one bus driver had done something really stupid and I let her have it. Like you don't realize. Like if you had just like. So the light came on and local. You kept driving it. Like you looked under the hood and knew it was empty but you thought it would be okay to drive.

What you think was gonna happen?

What did you think? Now, thank God nothing did happen. But the way I decide to chew her butt and say, you don't understand. If you blow a ten thousand dollar engine in this thing, they're just gonna give you another bus to drive. I and the one that's gonna be stuck putting the engine in because of your ignorance. And I more than anything, and I have to be the one that now will be under the pressure cooker. Get that engine in that. Like you don't, you don't even want to know what it's going to take to put an engine in the transit lady. Like it's not a fun job.

I can just imagine. I've done a rack and pinion, I've done some cats. They're not fun. That's how that engine is going to go. So like we literally had that conversation. And he pulls me in. Yeah, we're just going in different directions. Okay, cool.

All right, good enough. And it's so funny. The world works in mysterious ways. There'd been an email from the shop that I'm out now from and indeed, indeed, a job placement website. And I had answered the email just interested. Well, he had messaged me back and he already knew who I was from my social media content, other things that I had said, talked about in a community group. We weren't friends, but he knew who I was. And I'm like, you know, Emily, still want to talk to me? It's a substantial pay bomb to go and take that job.

Like it's so substantial that I didn't think there were shops out there that actually paid that.

Sure.

Right in my area. Didn't even think for a minute there are, they're out there. And then it's like a situation was like, so wait a minute, we're signed up to Napa training? Yeah, we're signed up to CTI training too. Yep. Plus there's like, if you know, you can. Here's. I don't know how many Autel tools he's got. Plus he had his own Zeus plus.

So I roll in with my Zeus. He's already got a Zeus Plus. Like he's got the snap on wrap to be able to program remotely. Like all this kind of stuff that I've heard about.

Yep.

I never got exposure to use that kind of stuff. Well, I'm there three months, he sends me on shadow to auto aid in. In Barrier, Ontario. It's a six day all day long. Wow. So six days every Friday for the next six weeks. We drove up Thursday night. Puts us up in a hotel room, feeds us to go to this little shop every Friday.

Sit there from eight in the morning till four in the afternoon and learn about like starting over. The fundamentals again of electronics. How does the circuit actually work? What is it about? And then apply that to a lab scope. I've never been on a course that was so intense, so in depth in my career. Never had been. Right. Because when you think about, it's not like coming here and taking the amazing stuff that puts on. That's one day.

Yep.

This is six days from the ground up. From the ground up. A lot of it was review. Well, by the third week I'm like, can we finally do something on lab scope that like, it's cool. We did and. But when I found out the price of what that cost, I was like, these shop owners that we hear about in the groups, whatever. They exist.

Yep.

And I was lucky. Blessed to have 16 minutes from my house. I can literally drive there in six minutes in the morning and come home, have lunch with my little dog, go back four days a week. No Fridays, no Saturdays. Like I'm, I'm in, I'm in heaven. Do we clash sometimes? Yep. Always for sure. Right.

I'm an opinionated sob. I've networked with enough people now that I've got some opinions on what I think it should do. And it sometimes clashes, man. It really does. But at the end of the day I remember that it's like it's his business, not mine. And I may have a lot of opinions. He may ask me sometimes for my opinion. I gotta remember when he's asking is when it's welcome.

When he's not asking, keep it to yourself.

Absolutely.

You know, and that's, that's the advice I give now is this is like it's not a case of they are. They might know that they need to do better, but that might not be the time that they can.

There's probably not the person they want to hear it from.

Right. Yeah.

Yep.

And even in this job, it's been cool to see the evolution of the shop. Corey was a tech and probably in some ways, when he started, the shop was the stereotypical tech turn shop owner. But even in the time that I've been there, I've watched him grow and the shop grow. When I started, he was still working in the bay every day, wrenching on cars. And now he doesn't necessarily have to be there every day for things to run. So I've watched him grow through the groups and podcasts and things like that and seen how much better it can make the shop run and the culture and everything else.

So in your future, Andrew, do you see yourself as a shop owner?

I've gone back and forth. I don't think that's for me. But we'll see what happens in time.

How old are you now?

I'm 24, so. Dude, a lot could change.

Dude, you got all kinds of time, man. I kept telling myself by 35 that I shouldn't. I missed my boat. That was horseshit. At 35, I could have done. Now at 49, definitely a window there between 35, 49, 49 is probably a little late to start. Other people tell me, listen, if you want to do it, you could be successful. I do and I look at it, but it's like, in 10 more years, do I want to even be having to walk in a shop every day? If I wanted to walk into a shop every day in 10 years, it would be just to like, shake some, as Mike Allen says, oh, kiss some hands and shakes and babies.

Right. Like, that's what I would want to be there for. Not where I'm like, stressed out about. And I don't know if me could build it and get it to that point in 10 years. Probably could, but it's just, I look at it and it's like where my strengths lie now is what I'm doing here, you know, networking with people, learning to better seek first to understand, as Lucas teaches. And that's really been important to me. But you at 24, we'll see what.

The Lord has and how things fall into place. Like I said, I've thought about it a lot and just really how things work out, I guess. I know I could do it if I wanted to, but it's a lot of work.

Yeah, it is a lot of work. What's your favorite part about this industry?

I like the variety, I guess I like solving problems. Is the thing that I like the most, the feeling of satisfaction when. Yeah, you get that part in the way that no one else could or when you find the issue, no one else could. So the problem Solving and just keeping learning and current and learning new ways to do things, how to be more efficient. Just the variety of every day, it's going to be something different.

It's addictive. It's addictive. Like, that's what I. So much of my ego is built on these cars that I had. And, like, when I. When I talk to some people, they're like, oh, yeah, I was there. It's nothing. Like, I wasn't the only man that ever found that failure on that car.

But I can remember I was one of the first. And it felt so good. Right now I just realized that it's like, it's not quite as bad as. Like, you're only as good as the last repair, but it is. Some days you are like that. And so my ego is always like, okay, got that one done. What's next? Yep, Somebody's like, oh, frick, what's next? But then other days, it's like, yeah, I feel good about that. I'm on a roll.

Let's have.

What else can I do?

Yeah. So that's been the addictive thing for me, I thought. And when I've started to see, like, people wanting to network with me, like, the way you and I met last year and last year was a little trippy for me because that was the first year that I came, that I had.

That you were a celebrity.

Well, oh, man, in a way. In a way, like, Paul Danner's a celebrity. Like, Paul was here last year. And it's like, I can see how everybody knows who Paul is. Everybody wants to stop Paul. Paul changed their life. Right. It's the same story.

Me. Now it's a little trippy because it's like, I'm going. See, I don't see myself as somebody who changed the trajectory of a lot of people's careers because I didn't teach them necessarily how to do something. I maybe gave them an attitude, maybe gave a perspective, but I didn't teach them how to become better. I showed them that you have to, and I told them you should, but I didn't necessarily. Like, I put the idea in their head, but I didn't give them the map. Paul gave us the map. Right.

So now I'm not a celebrity, but it's like, I'm still blown away by the amount of people that just want to, like, stop me and say part of what you said, whatever it might be really resonated or like, oh, my God, man, I got a story to share with you. I was there. It. It's Humbling really is. And what's been weird now is the amount of shop owners that stop and talk to me and I'm like, I feel like sometimes like I should be their sworn enemy because of how I go on. What I'm realizing is, like, the people that are around us that are in this little 2%, 1% group, they know that they're the 1% and they know that. It's like my frustrations come from the fact that it's not that I'm not efficient at doing the job, it's that my production might not want to be because we don't have everything in place that we need to. To really maximize systems and processes to make everything.

Yeah.

Run the way it should.

So when I see them and they want to, like shop owners want to stop and like, like a guy like Mike Allen who wants my input, what do I feel about this? What I feel about that. That is so humbling to me. It'd be like Scanner Danner calling me. Well, what would you do to a sick fallout? Paul? Paul, I'd be calling you. You don't call me. But when Mike wants my input, how would you handle this in my shop? What do you think about this tech? I'm just like, that's a way for.

You as a tech to speak for all of us. You've had experiences just like anyone my boss has said was Jeff working next to me in the shop. So I was that like, I can.

Isn't that great.

Tell the same stories.

Yeah.

And he was, you know.

Yeah.

Different independent dealers. And thankfully I think I has. I was pretty lucky in the way that I came here. I mean, I've had like, I shared some stories, but I've overall been blessed to be in good shops. And I mean, I've never worked flat rated day in my life and never had to deal with that. So I think I came in at a good time. But that's why I like listening to your podcast. I guess it just reminds me how blessed I've been and hear stories from other people and what else is out there.

Because I'm. I feel like I'm in a privy privileged position and gotten to do a lot and just to be humbled and remember that there's a lot of people that have gone through a lot of stuff in this industry.

Dutch says to me, he says, you have to remember, though, just because you ate a whole lot of shit sandwich doesn't mean that you have to try and give everybody else that to eat as if to burn. That's not what it's about, man, but it's just the reality. We have to remember that, like, maybe where they conducted themselves, they would have never thought to ever treat somebody the way that I was treated. Reality is like, they're the 1%. It's almost the norm. Other down the shop, down the street. Right. The shop around the corner.

It's the norm. And it was never a situation of like, I'm trying to say this industry is hopeless. My thing is, like, it's not hopeless, but by God, some days we don't see an answer. I asked Lucas and I were driving over here tonight, and I'm like, it's still so weird to me because it, like, I don't see myself as I did anything different than anyone else. And he's like, you were the one that was bold enough to say it. He's like, everyone else said it, but you kept saying it and boldly said it. Right. It wasn't a grumble.

It's like, I'm gonna. With affirmation and confidence, and we're gonna have the conversation. Right.

Whether you like it or not.

Yeah. And it's been good because have I learned a lot from other people? Yeah. Have I changed some of my perspectives? You're darn right, for sure. But that's growth. I mean, yeah, it's huge. He. I am so blessed to be what he has given me, to be able to network with people like Dutch, like Mike, like Paul. I was like, well, you met Paul.

Yep.

It's. It's trippy. Right? Like, it's for sure. You're fanboying out.

Yep.

And he's like, to him, it don't make any sense, but to me, the first time I ever met him, I'd known him a long time and talking to him online, sharing his stuff, but I'd never met him, met him. And then all of a sudden, it's like you spend time with him and you feel the kind of person that he is, and then you realize it's like, it isn't about how good he is as a mechanic. It goes so far beyond that. Right. And that's the part that's really like. Then I come away from this event, I was just talking to Richard Falco. I come out of these events and it's like, for the next six months, I feel on cloud nine. Six months out of three days that I get such a recharge being here that's so powerful.

What's the ROI on that?

Right, Exactly. You know, because it's like, David Roman, you can't scale that well. I don't know how to scale half the things that I know, but I know what friggin changes my life and that's the art, the roi. Right. And I don't. I keep saying that like, unfortunately, these are an expensive event. Not everybody has where they can take their guys to division or they can take their guys to asda. It doesn't mean that you don't take from that what can be and put it in your own shop.

It can be done, it can work. Right. The culture is there, the pay can be the training. You can get the training.

There's no better time to have training than right now.

Yes, for sure. Bring the training into the shop. But at the end of the day, we can't put a price on the value that you come away from this place and you realize like somebody said to me, I wasn't on an island. Thought it was. Thought I was all alone. You're not. We weren't. We realize that that's going to go on in our own communities without having to come here.

If we would just like open up a little more, not see the shop around the corner as the competition. Just as somebody that does what you do, they may do it a little different. You don't want their customers, they don't want your customers. Right.

They're not your company friends and help each other out.

Yeah. Right. You won.

We have training a lot of times every month and almost none of the local shops come. They think we're going to steal their text or whatever and we're just trying to help out. And yeah, we'll have people drive from an hour away to come, but the shop literally within walking distance, won't send anyone.

That's ridiculous.

Yep.

And you guys are putting this training.

On for completely free meal, everything.

Yeah. After work. Yeah. Come in, learn how to, how to troubleshoot something better.

Yep.

Can't be bothered. That's so stupid.

It's sad.

Yeah. I talked to about my friend Justin Porter. Justin goes into a lot of shops, do a lot of programming, a lot of diagnosing while he's in there. Right. Like he's in. He says it's not necessarily bad shops, but he says I come in there and I start to do something and I catch the attention of the younger techs that they may have working there. He said. And it's like I'm there a lot because I'm there for a lot of programming.

You start to watch and he's like, they become really interested in this, like, how do I go work for you? How do I go learn to do what you're doing?

I think that's a big thing with the younger people is the technology where they might not have ever seen anyone program a module. And like me, we do that, do ADOs, and that's all really cool stuff to learn and be able to be a part of.

So, yeah, it trips me up still when I think about, like, what I just instinctively do, which is no great thing. Right. It's just how I approach the car. But it's like all of a sudden it's like somebody doesn't even think at lap level. They might go a different way. They just like, I don't even know where to begin. I always know at this point now where to begin. And I just kind of let the process dictate where I go next to be able to.

If I could give them that. That critical thinking idea of, like, how to go about this. Between this and the podcast, I've made a ripple for sure, you know, and that's all I ever wanted to do. I didn't want to be just another tech that was like, I had a really good week one time.

Billy built 250 hours that week.

I had a Saturday made 28 hours. That's not what I want. When people remember me and I know they don't and they won't know those people that I made that 28 hours for, none of them work there anymore. You know what I mean?

Somebody else did it after you left?

Probably. Right. Well, can it happen a lot? No. The stars have to perfectly align. Everything has to go right. And it just one of the magical days. But it's not. If I'm only remembered for one thing, I would be really jipped.

I felt when I was all said and done, that's the biggest legacy I left was how many hours I made in one day. We all need to think on a bigger level, higher level, about what are we actually in this industry to do and what is it we want to leave, you know? And that's the thing. It's just starting like this. Just you and I getting to know one another. Your story, because it's the same thing. Somebody out there, like, you're young, man.

Yep.

You're young. I'm 25 years older than you. Isn't that nuts? Yeah, it's crazy.

You could be my dad.

Yeah, right. But like, I don't see that. And immediately go, oh, like, you know.

This dumb kid, I can't learn anything from him.

Yeah, completely the opposite. Completely the opposite. And that's what. So everybody that we meet in this industry, we might not always see eye to eye, but you can learn something from them. Maybe sometimes it's what not to do, but there's still value in taking that from it. Right. Closing off. What do you think? What.

And what's your. What's your advice to the young people like yourself that are trying to come in?

I guess just get out there and learn as much as you can. There's never been a better time to. And yeah, I found so much help and met so many great people through the Facebook groups. If you can get into some of those and learn from the people in there. And I've learned a lot about. From the changing industry podcast about the way a shop is supposed to run. And I think that helped me in finding a good shop is I knew what to look for because I. I'd seen bad and I'd heard what good was.

And so when I found somebody that was doing things the right way, I knew a little bit about the shop ownership. Part of it, instead of just having eyes as a technician is Corey Ear. He's not this weekend falls on his anniversary every year. So he was at Vision and he'll be there next year.

Yeah, I follow him on Facebook, but we're not really. We're not close. Close. You know what I mean? Like, it's just. Just acquaintances.

Yep.

There's nothing wrong with that. It's not a bad thing. It's hard now to keep up with everybody. Right. This is 10 years of me doing at least being involved in some level of getting to know people. The podcast thing is like, like I said that earlier tonight. The guy to come up to me and go carts and go, you let me have it 10 years ago. I can't remember how many people I've let have it.

And it's not a badge of honor for me. I don't wear. It's just a situation of. They say it is. You let me have it. What I really did was just like, let's the crap. Let's talk about what you can really do. I'm not talking hours produced.

What can you actually solve? Let's see. Okay, you got a weakness. Let's work on that. Let's make you the best tech that you can be for tomorrow. When you go into your boss, you're doing the best job for the customer that you can. The best job for the, for the. Your boss. And then we all come up a little bit.

There's so, oh, Technicians need more training. I'm not arguing that for sure, but there's a lot of service people in the business side of this that need a lot of training. Because if you want to see where, like, you want that unicorn tech, it's going to take some business changes in order for you to get that tech.

Accommodate them, get the work that is going to feed them. Absolutely.

It's expensive, man. It sucks. It's not cheap. But what's the other option? We know what the other option is. We're seeing it. There's nobody come along to replace them. Not right now anyway. Right.

We have to get better at cultivating that next generation. And then, you know, I'm not saying throw money at the problem, but don't make it about the money. Realize that that person is. It's not always about the money either. Right. Like, look at my last episode with Spencer from. From Dave's.

Yep.

He didn't quit there because of money. Not at all. He's going to work now for somebody else that is not going to pay.

Him as much, but he's going to.

Be happy there, hopefully, knock on wood. Yeah. He's going to be. Get some training, some exposure. That's what it's about for him. It's not a situation of like, I look at that and go, go, oh, he deserved better. I wasn't there. I don't know what he deserved.

Right. But I do know from both sides of that story now, both people could have done better. That's what all I ever wanted to be is. It's like, have you always been the best that you could be? No. Let's talk about how you get there.

You know, I think that's the thing I've heard lately too is as a society, failure is so demonized that failure is a bad thing. And it's not. It's an opportunity to learn. The more you fail, the more you can learn and the better you can get.

Brian Pollock says, do you know how many much stuff I effed up? Right? And I go like, you want to get really good at making an omelet? You gotta bust some eggs, man. You got like a thousand before you're gonna master how you're gonna make that omelette. It's analogy, but it's. It's the truth. Brian says, I was wrong so many times. That's why I can be right a lot. And that just sticks with me, man. It resonates with me.

So I want to thank you for coming on.

Thank you for having me.

Yeah. It's late, but, yeah, I appreciate you. Well, listen, if we're back next year, we'll do this again if you want.

Sounds good.

Yeah, Anytime you want, we can do it.

Thank you.

I'm sorry that it took a year to have this happen.

No problem. But glad we made it work.

Thank you, man.

Thank you.

Talk to you soon. 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 ASAR Group and to the Change in 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.

Young Techs Need to Listen to THIS! Andrew Gonyou’s Journey and Thoughts

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