Last month, I discussed the importance of building a strong foundation before considering growth, documenting your systems, understanding and managing your numbers, and honing your processes. Those things are critical, but they’re just the beginning. Once you’ve got those fundamentals, it’s time to ask a bigger question: What do you really want for your business?
This topic came up at the Ratchet + Wrench conference. (It was a great event, by the way!) It’s always inspiring to see shop owners come together, share their challenges, and learn from each other. This year, the energy was electric. People were talking about growth and the future of their businesses. However, there were also a lot of conversations that stuck with me: a lot of shop owners aren’t sure what they really want in the near future.
One conversation I had at the conference really hit this point home. I was talking with a shop owner who had been successful by many standards. Multiple locations, good car count, and making a good profit. When I asked him where he wanted his business to be in three years, he didn’t have an answer. He admitted that he had been so focused on keeping things running day-to-day that he hadn’t taken the time to think about the bigger picture.
This isn’t unusual. Many shop owners get caught up in the daily grind and it’s hard to take a step back and look at where you’re headed. But if you don’t know what you want for the future of your business, how can your team possibly know? And if they don’t know, what are they working toward? It’s just a job and a paycheck, a place to clock in and clock out.
I shared with him something that I’ve learned through my own experience: you need a clear vision and a plan to execute it. Back in 2017, I took the hours and hours to write my three-year vision, hired a graphic designer to build a PowerPoint, and I proudly gave a speech to all my team and their families at our annual Christmas party. Everyone was excited, but I missed part two, working with my team to build out the plan and execute on it to actually make it happen, I learned that it’s not enough to have an idea that you want to grow.
You need to get specific. You need to sit down, write out what you want your business to look like three years from now and share it with your team. When you do that, you then have to take the vision and get their help to build out the plan, and then your vision and the plan turn into something your people can believe in and help make happen.
It’s not just about having a vision; it’s about sharing it and bringing your team into the process. At the conference, this theme came up over and over in different conversations. Some shop owners asked me, “What’s the best way to motivate my team?” The truth is, it starts with you. If your team doesn’t know where you’re going, they’ll never feel like they’re a part of something bigger. They’re just showing up, doing their work, and heading home.
But things change when you take the time to figure out what you want, write it down, and share it with your team. They start to see that you’re serious about the future, and that they can be a part of it, and they want to help build it. They stop thinking about their work as just a job and start seeing it as contributing to a bigger vision.
I’ve seen this transformation firsthand in my own shops. When I first started talking to my team about my vision for the business and involving them in the plan for how we were going to make it happen, I noticed a shift. People became more engaged. They started bringing new ideas to the table, taking ownership of projects, and going the extra mile. Why? because they saw that we were building something, and they wanted to be a part of that.
At the conference, we talked a lot about the challenges of scaling up, whether that means adding a second or third location or just optimizing the one you have. And I kept coming back to this idea: You can’t do it alone. Your vision for growth needs to be backed up by a solid action plan, and that plan has to involve your team.
When I work with my team, we set goals, we talk about what needs to happen this quarter, this month, and even this week to keep moving toward our long-term vision. And everyone has a role to play in making that happen.
The best part about all of this? When you have a clear vision and a team that’s bought into it, you become a talent magnet. People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They want to work for a shop that’s going somewhere, not one that’s just grinding it out, day after day.
As we’ve become clearer about where we’re headed and what we want to achieve, we’ve started attracting great people.
Our key players want to stay because they see a future with us; they see opportunities for growth, advancement, and being part of something special. They don’t want to work in a worn-out, dirty shop where they can’t see a future, they want to be part of a growing company that’s aiming higher.
If you want to attract and keep great people, it starts with giving them a reason to stay. Writing out your vision is critical, but execution is where the magic happens. Take the time to build the systems and take the steps to bring it to life. If not, your vision ends up gathering dust while the daily grind takes over. Execution means putting the right processes and people in place and sticking to them.
Track your numbers, know your KPIs, and invest in and train your people.
Remember to celebrate the wins, learn from mistakes, and never lose sight of the bigger picture. It’s about turning a vision into reality, one step at a time. If you’re not sure what you want for your business, take the time to figure it out. Write it down, share it with your team, and work with them to build a plan. It might be hard work, but it’s worth it.
Email me at [email protected]—I’d love to hear your story.
