I was on a call recently with a group of shop owners when one of them brought up a question about hiring a GM. He wanted to know how to structure the pay plan. Base plus bonus? Bonus off gross profit? How does it all work? When I mentioned that any performance-based bonus tied to gross profit requires financial transparency, he pushed back hard. "I had a friend who shared his numbers with his GM. The guy learned everything, then went out and started his own shop." Before I could respond, a veteran multi-shop owner on the call dropped this bomb: "Are you hiring a babysitter or are you hiring a manager? Because those are two different things." The Zoom went quiet. He continued: "Why would you hire a general manager if they're not going to manage the numbers for you?" THE REAL REASON OWNER'S DON'T SHARE NUMBERS Here's what I've learned after hundreds of conversations with shop owners about this topic: The fear of "they'll learn everything and leave" is almost never the real issue. The real reasons are usually one of three things: 1. The books aren't clean. One owner on the call put it bluntly: "A lot of people don't even have their numbers right." If you're not confident in your own financials, you're definitely not going to show them to someone else. 2. There's "funny stuff" happening. Owner buying personal items through the business? Taking distributions that aren't accounted for? If you're doing things you'd be embarrassed for your manager to see, that's not a transparency problem—that's an integrity problem. 3. You're being greedy. Another owner said it plainly: "The only reason you don't want to share is you're being too greedy. If you're not taking care of them and you're taking an excessive amount, they're going to be upset. If you're being fair, they're not going to be." Ouch. But he's right. HOW TRANSPARENT OWNERS ACTUALLY DO IT One of the most successful multi-shop owners in our group shared exactly how he structures financial transparency with his team:

Last October I rode from Baltimore to Boston with @Shawn Gilfillan , @Brian Nerger , and his GM Tony for a shop visit. 7 hours. One badass Ford Raptor. Four people. We talked about the industry. Argued about shop management philosophies. Stopped at rest areas in different states. Got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic through Newark and New York. Listened to podcasts. Played music. Complained about the same broken things we all complain about. By the time we hit Boston, something had shifted. To be clear, these weren't "industry contacts" before the trip began. We've known each other for years. Shawn and Brian are guys I genuinely know and respect. But after 7 hours on the road, I understood more about how they think. I knew their frustrations. Their wins. Their weird preferences in snacks at the gas station (I discovered pickle flavored cheese puffs on this road trip). That's when it clicked. You can't build real connection in 30-minute conversations. Relationships require concentrated time together. Research backs this up. There's something psychologists call the "7-Hour Rule" — it takes roughly 7 hours of quality time before an acquaintance starts feeling like a friend. And the kicker? Those hours need to be concentrated, not spread across months of small talk. 7 hours spread over six months of quick hellos and brief questions at the shop doesn't create the same bond as 7 hours spent in a truck together. That's exactly what most shop owners get wrong about team activities. A half-hearted pizza party once a year isn't building anything. It's checking a box. The shops I see with real team cohesion — where techs actually have each other's backs, where the front of the house and back of the house communicate like partners instead of enemies — they're doing something different. They're investing concentrated time in shared experiences outside of work. HERE'S WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS HAPPENS WHEN YOUR TEAM ACTUALLY BONDS

Happy New Year! I've been thinking about something this morning that I want to share with you. A few years ago, I got a message from a shop owner I'd worked with. He told me that the technician we'd helped him hire had just fixed a brake issue on a young mom's minivan. She'd been putting it off for months—couldn't afford the time or money. The tech stayed late to get it done. Gave her a fair price. She drove out of that shop with safe brakes and tears in her eyes. That tech wasn't a unicorn. He was a good technician who finally found a great shop. And when those two things link up, something bigger happens. A family drives safer. A shop thrives. A technician does work that actually matters. That's what this whole thing is about. I know 2025 might have been hard. Maybe you lost a tech you thought would stay. Maybe you're still short-staffed. Maybe you're tired of the hustle. But here's what I want you to hear today: You are building something that matters. Every oil change, every diagnostic, every brake job... you're keeping families safe on the road. That's not a small thing. That's an enormous thing that most people will never understand. And 2026? It's a blank page. You get to decide what you write on it. More importantly, you get to decide who you're becoming as you write it. Not just "shop owner." Not just "the guy who fixes cars." You have the chance this year to become the leader your team didn't know they needed. The shop that the best tech in your town is secretly hoping exists. The place where someone finally feels respected, challenged, and valued. That transformation doesn't happen by accident. It happens by decision. So here's what I want you to do: Take 5 minutes today. Write down one thing you're going to do differently this year to make your shop the kind of place a great technician would never want to leave. Then drop it in the comments. I want to see it. I want this community to see it. Because when we share our commitments out loud, they become real.

"Dealership guys have struggled big time coming into independent. It's very difficult for them to transition to what we do." That's a direct quote from a shop owner I spoke with recently. And here's the thing—he's not the first person to tell me this. Dealerships have training programs. Certifications. Factory specs. All the advantages, right? So why do I keep hearing this? The theory: dealer techs often live in one make/system all day… then they walk into an independent shop and see a Honda, a BMW, a Ford diesel, and a Hyundai hybrid before lunch. But I’ve also heard the opposite — some shop owners say dealer techs have been their BEST hires. Their take: “If the attitude is right and they can learn our flow, they crush it.” I'm curious what YOU'VE experienced. - Hired dealership techs → did they thrive or struggle? - What role were they at the dealer? - What did you do (or wish you’d done) in the first 30 days to help them transition? Take the poll and drop the good, the bad, and the ugly in the comments below👇

Hey shop owners and GM's, we've identified a suspicious account in our community that we want to flag for everyone's awareness. Account Name: Mike Todd (@mike-todd-1992) What We Know: - This user joined recently and is requesting meetings with what appears to be a "virtual assistant" rather than engaging directly - His profile location is listed in South Africa, which doesn't match the typical shop owner profile - He's been asking detailed questions about our proprietary tools and recruiting processes What We're Asking: If you have received a Direct Message from this account asking to meet, offering recruiting services, or requesting information about your shop operations, please do NOT engage and report it to me directly. Reply to this post or DM me with any contact you've had from him. Why This Matters: Scammers often join business communities to build trust, extract information, or pitch fraudulent services. We take member safety seriously and want to protect everyone in Technician Find. Action Items: - ✋ Do not schedule calls with unverified accounts - ✋ Do not share proprietary business information via DM - ✋ Report any suspicious activity directly to me or my team Thanks for being vigilant and helping keep our community clean. We're here to support REAL shop owners and GM's solving real hiring problems—not scammers trying to exploit the community. Stay safe, -Chris P.S. If anyone is interested in how I rooted out this joker, let me know and I'll do a Q&A so you can spot this B.S. before someone scams you or your business.