Is there a better way to execute car projects

[Build-It-Break-it]

The reason you can't find any youth interested in the car hobby is technology and laziness.

Things come to easy to kids now and kids aren't as tough. For any little thing that happens in schools new laws are passed. You can't even sing the national anthem anymore in schools?

I work as a leadman for a heavy equipment company and love it,but I'm more passionate about cars. Problem is when I was in my twenties looking for a hot rod shop to hire me they didn't want to offer much money because of my age so I found a line of work that would pay well, a diesel mechanic. I would love to work at a company that would pay for my welding and fab skills but would they pay me enough? Want to pay? Is the money steady? 401k? Life insurance? Bonuses for deadlines met? All those things are offered at most companies. I've been doing fabrication work at home for myself and friends now for years but could I make better money for a Hot rod shop ?

I agree that you have to treat your workers as family and not employees. I work graveyard shift with 3 other employees under me and they LOVE working for me. Most of them have been waiting years for a day shift position to open so they could work a "normal" schedule and guess what, a spot just opened up and was offered to me and I passed on it. All the guys on my shift passed on it as well because they love working together.

My point is most places now are focused on newer methods which do work but have forgotten about the old school ways that made people ; stronger, loyal,honest,respectful and care about the quality of there work.

[Ron Sutton]

Part 1 of 2

I've been in business my whole life. Just different stints or "adventures" as I refer to them. While there are a lot of keys to a successful business, attracting, developing & keeping good people are the top of the list.

While I don't claim to be the Wiz of Biz, I've had some success in this area of business & keeping key people long term.
• My key fabricator Lloyd Moore was with me 8 of the 9 years at Ron Sutton Race Engineering.
• John Musto was with me 13 of the 15 years at my consulting biz & bought the biz.
• Randy Chastain (who some of you met) was with me all 8 years at my multi-car race team operation.

While I know I'm FAR from perfect as a person, leader or business owner, I'd felt I should share a few key things I learned from my mentors, business training & experience ...
1. Business is about people. Period.

The keys to sales are finding outside people (prospective clients) who have a want or need ... getting crystal clear on their want/need (consultative process) ... and if your products and/or services truly fit ... make it easy for them to buy from you. (If your products & services are not a good fit ... pass ... even if they're willing to buy. Otherwise it will not end well.)

Crappy people provide crappy products, services & customer service. The keys to providing great products and/or services ... as well as great customer service ... is having great people. The keys to recruiting are finding great people to come inside our organization (prospective employees) who want to work somewhere rewarding & positive ... and have a place that is rewarding & positive to work (workplace culture). Then balance recruiting people (marketing/selling) with vetting them (making sure they are right for your team). We want to make our operation attractive to quality people, but not too quick or easy to get in.

2. We can't hire the people we need. Get over it. We need to hire good people, with the right beliefs & develop them into the people we actually need. To expect people ... any people ... to show up & do work they way we want & need is unrealistic. The key I learned was hiring sharp people with good attitudes & the correct aptitude for the position ... and provide them with training & hands on experience in a fashion they can learn ... and over time ... become the productive person we need them to be.

FYI: At my racing teams, I knew we couldn't hire people that worked at the high level we needed, so we had a full blown training program that consisted of 29 training classes. We trained a LOT of guys ... and watched them "sort out" over time. Most washed out ... some stayed a while & contributed ... and a few really shined. Those we nurtured & kept long term.

P.S. I had a guy ask me one time … “What if you train them & they leave?” My response was, “what if we don’t train them … and they stay?”

3. I found the 45/45/10 rule my Mentor taught me about people to be pretty accurate, in that:
a. 45% of people have negative mindsets, don't care & sabotage themselves & others.
b. 45% of people are conformers & will conform to the culture they are in ... negative or positive. they will work up to, or down to, the standards of the organization.
c. 10% of people flat out care ... about themselves, their career, their world, other people, the company they work for, etc.

Positive minded people hate to hear 45% of the population is that way. But in my experience & observations of the world & life, I have found what my mentor said to be true.

My Mentor taught me to shoot the 45% that don't care … and bury the bodies. Hire the other 45% that conform & build a positive culture for them to work & learn to care in. And of course … hire the 10% that care ... get them engaged in our overall visions ... and develop them into key assets inside our organization. My mentor taught me that we build a successful enterprise around these 55% ... if we provide them what they need ... and keep the cancerous 45% that don't care OUT.

During the hiring process, I occasionally found great people with excellent mindsets, attitudes, outlook, motivation, etc ... that did not have the aptitude for the position I was filling. These are 10 percenters & I looked hard to see if could build a different position around them, knowing they would make a positive difference in my company. Accept the fact we can't build our company out of 10 percenters only. There are not enough of them ... they don't fit well into all the roles we need ... and they're not perfect by any means. They're good people ... but just people ... with strengths, weaknesses, pros, cons, wishes, hopes, needs, etc. But I tell you ... I've gone to extreme lengths to recruit them.

I met a gal named Bobbi Bradley at a trade show once & after spending a half hour talking business (she worked for a company selling trade show booths) I knew she was a gem ... even amongst other 10 percenters. I didn't have an open position ... but I asked her anyway if she was open to a job offer ... and she said no. So I stayed in touch every month or so ... for two years. No exaggeration … not even a little … two years. When I heard she was in the job market ... I took her to lunch, toured our business with her, sent gifts to house for her & her husband, invited them both to dinner with my wife & I, etc, etc. She ran the office & operations of my consulting company for nine years until she retired. Directly & in-directly she was responsible for a 20% growth in my business. I sold that company soon after she retired.

4. A positive culture matters ... and it doesn't just happen on its own. We have to work at building a great place to work. The 55% want to work at a place that is fun ... so make it fun when we can. They want to be rewarded, so reward them when it merits. They want to be recognized for their contribution ... so recognize them every time it is worthy. They want to be respected ... so always treat them with respect. And this is key … encourage our people to do that with each other.

5. Low standards lead to failure. We don't get what we want ... we get what we tolerate. We don't always achieve every goal ... but we always achieve our "standards." We don't usually set out to define our standards. Our standards are defined by our action ... or inaction. If someone comes in late several times & you don’t deal with it … IT MUST BE OK to come in late. If you tolerate it … that becomes the standard. If your folks produce products with inconsistent quality … and you don’t rally the troops to address it … IT MUST BE OK … and the standard is set.

If we have a lot of waste, inventory shrinkage, customer turn over, complaints, etc, etc, etc. … and we don’t tackle these problems with the team … they become the standard. If we have a person, or persons, treating other people in our company with disrespect … it must be ok … because we allow it. We can’t stand idly by and expect the business, team, culture, sale & profitability to improve themselves.

Page 2 in the next post.

[Ron Sutton]

Page 2 of 2 - Continued from the previous post.

6. Tough decisions. A company with good culture, good people, profitability, etc ... just doesn't happen. It only happens when the leader & team are committed to it. And this is where it gets tough. If someone is not helping make this a better place ... they gotta go. I don't care if they are good at their job or not. If they are cancerous to the organization as a whole ... they gotta go. You get the roll of carpet & I’ll grab a shovel. No individual is more important than the whole team. If cancer had taken over your leg … you’d cut it off … and move on. Tough choices need to be made & good leaders make them.

I've fired "stars" several times when their self-centeredness was detrimental to the team. And the team rose as a whole when they all saw they mattered more to me than one star. Frankly I am very good at firing people. I hate it, but I’m good at it. When I am clear someone is detrimental to the team, to our vision & goals, to the financial livelihood of my family and all the families that work for me … that SOB is outta here. (P.S. You don’t have to be a jerk about it. I like to make people feel good about their newfound freedom & job opportunities. LOL)

7. Communication is critical. Our people are not mind readers. If we have bad people ... they don't care what we think, what we want or what we expect of them. But if we have good people ... they do care. But they don't know if we don't communicate it. If they are "on board" and have bought into our vision, goals & purpose ... then they need to know what we're thinking from time to time. Don't keep them in the dark. Talk about the goals & objectives. Talk about the strategies & direction to get there ... with them. Talk about the challenges & hurdles in the way ... with them ... and they'll feel a part of the team ... and help us solve them.

They can't meet our expectations if they don't know what they are. Communicate in positive ways what you want & expect from them. I’m not suggested we be sugar-coating Polly Annas … just don't be a jerk. When I ask my people to step up their game or improve at something ... I also ask them what they need to achieve that ... and I provide it … if it's realistic. Once they learn you’re all about improving & not just riding their backs, the good ones will “get it” & rise.

8. Chaos is no way to live or work. The 55% ... and our bottom line ... DEMAND organization. A company that lacks simple systems, smart structure and clear leadership ... will always struggle. Smooth running businesses have both smart people & smart systematization. From simple systems & training to make jobs easier ... checklists so people don't have to remember every detail & things don't get missed ... to clarity on how we do things.

9. The fish stinks from the head down. All businesses have problems & challenges. But if we the leaders (head of the fish) don't address & fix them ... that is on us … the leader. If we don't have a good culture ... that is on us ... get to work. It isn't going to fix itself. If we don't have good people ... that is on us ... get to work. If we don't have good teamwork ... it's because we haven't built them into a true team.

No one else is going to build the organization into a great company FOR us. But if you are a positive leader that your people respect, they will HELP you build the company. Just remember them ... with reward, respect & recognition along the way.

10. To be successful we need to work on our businesses … not just in them. To understand this, let’s define “working on the biz” & “working in the biz.” Working in the business … is doing the daily job that must be done to pay the bills. Making sales, taking care of customers, building & shipping product, billing & collecting, accounting, paying bills, etc. etc. All of this needs to be done to exist in business. But none of these things “improve” the business long term or big picture. In fact, if all of the leader’s time is working “in the business” … how CAN it improve?

“Working on the biz” is doing projects that have long lasting positive effects. I would like to say permanent, but nothing is permanent. Even a great system will become outdated & be replaced. Working on the business … is investing some of your four limited resources (time, energy, focus & tangible resources) for a long lasting return. Think ROI … Return On Investment.

The key areas are:
1. Learning (yourself)
2. Training (your people)
3. Systemization (of business activities)
4. Marketing (to create ongoing streams of business)

If you learn how to do something better … you will achieve more results in less time with less effort. This is the foundation for improving productivity. Achieving more in less time … and potentially with less mistakes, less risk & less cost. When you master how to do something key to your business … like hiring, marketing, time management, organization, etc … your results will be greater. If it took us 10 hours to learn excellent hiring practices … and it served us for the next 20 years of your business … we consider that a good ROI. If we take 2 hours to create a simple, repeatable system for an activity that happens in our business weekly … and it saves an hour a week … that’s a pretty good ROI. If we allocate one hour every week to train our staff to do their jobs better … and in the other 39 hours they improve their results 20% … that’s a pretty good ROI. If we learn about marketing & implement marketing strategies … one after another … that creates ongoing streams of new and/or repeat business … that’s a good ROI of our time.

I like to think of it this way. If I don’t work on improving my business … who will? Gnomes & Elves will not be coming in at night to systematize my operation. I know … because I asked them to … and they said their union contract forbade it. I reached out the Tooth Fairy & the Easter Bunny … but they said that was outside their scope of skills. I was going to ask Santa to build my business … because he has a pretty smooth running joint … but we all know he is busy nine months out of the year & vacationing in the Bahamas the other three. I asked my customers to help fix my business & that spooked them & they took their business elsewhere … creating new problems. So eventually I learned it was up to me.

My mentor taught me that all top business leaders work “on their business” most or all of the time. But they got there one step at a time. In small business we need to get there a step at a time too. He suggested I start at 90/10 … meaning I spent 90% of my time doing the things that paid the bills … so I could continue paying the bills. And 10% of my time dedicated (even scheduled in my calendar) to working on projects that would improve my business. This was when I was a VERY young man running my own chassis building business. I was working 80 hours a week then. He wasn’t suggesting I work 88. He was suggesting I work “in it” 72 & “on it” 8. I thought … “Heck, if I can’t make a living working 72 hours a week I guess I better quit” … so I bought in & did it. Over a surprisingly short time … I improved my business in every area … turning it from a “break-even & pray” situation to a very profitable operation. Over time, I shifted the work “in’ vs “on” ratio from 90/10 to 80/20 then 70/30 … and so on until I was 100/0 … and worked less hours. That is when I really made money. I went from zero profit to making $10k a month … in the 80’s … building race cars. For a young guy, I was on cloud nine.

There's more keys my mentors taught me that I'm forgetting ... but these 10 key things helped me build good businesses … that I felt would be worthy of sharing.



.

[Ron Sutton]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

One of the major differences has to be leadership. Employees must know you appreciate them and have their back. You lead with integrity and their place is secure within your business. It's also important to help them with their personal lives. When you do these things, it's much more likely to create loyalty. You must manage them, but leadership is the key.

However, it's a fact that you can't make a duck into an eagle. You can only hone and shape people so much. They must have the rough qualities you require up front.

So true!

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Originally Posted by ironworks

So my question is who pays for the Written Detailed Estimate? Our main customers would tell me just to get to work and communicate with them as the process unfolds what is happening. I talk with customers as much as they want and open the door for the dumbest questions, Because if its a question for them its not dumb. They need to understand the process and they have to see they are being treated fairly.

How can you expect a guy to give a spot on Estimate on a project of this precision when the can't build air craft carriers or bridges on time and exactly on budget?

We are working on 55 Chevrolet and we put a new quarter panel on one side and not the other. I now know it would have been much less work to have put a quarter panel on both sides due to the stamping differences from the original quarter panels and the repo unit. It was a major visual difference. MAJOR. How do you budget for that? Whose fault is that? We are hired to build perfect cars with very imperfect parts that are marketed to Just bolt right on cars that were not perfect when new and perform perfectly. And just because a parts fits perfectly on one car does not mean it will fit perfectly on the next car.

The biggest thing I have learned is you have to be able to charge a customer a fair amount of money to be able to keep the ball rolling. You also have to take your licks when you screw something up. No one builds everything perfect every time. The way to win a customer is with integrity and knocking money off the bill with out them asking because you screwed something up does that.

The only way to fix a lack of communication is with the communication the customer wants and needs to hear to understand. But you can explain it to them all day long and it does not mean they understand you, even if they say they do.

An experienced estimator will know what to look for and also read the customer.

As of now, in CA, vehicle reconstruction falls into a grey area as far as the BAR is concerned. There are no set times for most of the work that we we do. That is why I try to stay within an industry standard. If Blake over at Speedtech, Steve over at EBMC charges 40 hours to do a mini tub, that's what I charge.
Early on we did a time study and most seems standard.

Right now the thing that kills a business is the for mentioned creep. The customer wants to add or increase modifications. That little added step may push 3 of the next customers in line back a month and increase my profit/loss into the red for that period of time.

OP...make a good accurate project plan, stay the course and keep the jobs coming in no matter how small the job.

[Munssey]

Originally Posted by Ron Sutton

[B]

8. Chaos is no way to live or work. The 55% ... and our bottom line ... DEMAND organization. A company that lacks simple systems, smart structure and clear leadership ... will always struggle. Smooth running businesses have both smart people & smart systematization. From simple systems & training to make jobs easier ... checklists so people don't have to remember every detail & things don't get missed ... to clarity on how we do things.

.

Ron, this item in particular reminds me of something read a few months back from Jesse James, the previous owner of West Coast Choppers. What you are saying embodies so much more than just this specific area of organization but thought it was good enough to share.

PopeofWelding (instagram post) Preparation is the Key. It's not just about just having a shop and the right tools. It's about being prepared Mentally, and physically to do your best work. At the end of every work day, clean up, put tools away, make lists, wipe down your machines(even your welder). Make sure you have material for tomorrow. Now Take it a step further. Before you go to bed lay out your work clothes and boots so you don't have to fish for them in the dark. Because your getting an early start. This is the path to doing your best work. Clean Shops and Clean Minds produce the cleanest Work. #jessejamesFollowing

While life indeed gets in the way some times and keeps us from the clean up and prep processes, the spirit of the note is fantastic.

[ccracin]

Thanks for posting Ron. This thread is great. For someone starting a business in this field, I appreciate this type of honest feedback. Alot of what you posted are principles I have picked up over the years looking at good and bad businesses. You however added so much more to it with your post. I feel like printing it and making it a wall hanging for my office.

When I look at shops in this industry that always tend to blame the customers for their inability to make money, I see why they are where they are. I think you can apply some of your keys regarding employees to choosing customers as well. In alot of cases, you can tell almost immediately what kind of customer you are dealing with. One of my most respected colleagues from the past gave me a piece of advice that I think is worth adding here. When I told him I would have a business one day, he said "Remember, It's OK to say NO". He meant that with regard to customers. You don't have to work with anyone you feel is not a good fit for your business.

Thanks to the OP and to all who are posting in this thread as well. This is a very timely discussion. At least for me.

[Vegas69]

Killer stuff Ron. Thanks for sharing that with us..

Churned a couple thoughts...

1. Many top companies are now testing their applicants to see where they fit into your 45/45/10. Here is a test that determines optimism vs. pessimism and hope. http://web.stanford.edu/class/msande...earnedOpt.html

Pessimists aren't all bad, I was one. However, they don't belong in many positions. An accountant being a good example of the right fit. Optimists fit into the culture, bounce back from adversity, and are more productive over time. They also tend to reduce turnover in the company.

2. Work on yourself EVERYDAY:

Physical: That means your physical health through exercise and nutrition.

Mental: Your mental attitudes of mind through learning and the right influences. Gaining and refining new skills like leadership. The awareness of your tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses. Managing your emotions.

Spiritual: Your deepest values like Faith, Family, Love, Integrity, etc.

The greater person you become, the higher your company can climb.

[snappytravis]

Originally Posted by Vince@MSperfab

An experienced estimator will know what to look for and also read the customer.

As of now, in CA, vehicle reconstruction falls into a grey area as far as the BAR is concerned. There are no set times for most of the work that we we do. That is why I try to stay within an industry standard. If Blake over at Speedtech, Steve over at EBMC charges 40 hours to do a mini tub, that's what I charge.
Early on we did a time study and most seems standard.

Right now the thing that kills a business is the for mentioned creep. The customer wants to add or increase modifications. That little added step may push 3 of the next customers in line back a month and increase my profit/loss into the red for that period of time.

OP...make a good accurate project plan, stay the course and keep the jobs coming in no matter how small the job.

Read the customer Vince,, 8 years in the Snap On Tool Business,, You learn to read the person real fast, I could quiz them in the tool truck for about 5 minutes, Where you from, Why you hear, Where you going, not exactly like that but you can learn a lot from a person just normal conversation.

[4mul8ion]

This is a great thread and some fascinating posts.

So, what are you looking for in a customer? What signs show a good fit or a poor one?

Kevin