Auto Repair Shop Owners Know the Four Business Stages

Four Business Stages by Rick White, President 180BIZ

Today’s topic is stages, not to be confused with seasons. So, what do I mean by stages? You work really hard and all of a sudden you think you got it. You think you finally arrived. And that's awesome. It's an awesome feeling to have. It lights you up. You think, “Wow, I just can't believe how good this feels. All this hard work has been worth it. And it is, it really is worth it.” When you can finally step back and realize a dream that you've had for a very long time, it's amazing.

But I want to talk to you about stages and there are four of them. The first stage is THRIVING. that's where you grow. All the cylinders are firing. Everything is going exactly the way you want it to go. Life just seems great. You're a 10 out of 10 when you're thriving. And it's an amazing feeling.

The second stage is surviving. That's where you're getting by, but it's a struggle. Sometimes you end up with more months than money. You're borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. And you're getting along by the skin of your teeth. People tend to think that we go from surviving to thriving. Well, that's a true statement, but I need to tell you that sometimes you go from thriving to surviving. You have to realize that if you take your eye off the ball, if you start to get complacent, if celebration turns into coasting, it won’t be long before you’re in survive mode again. Not that anything is really wrong, it’s that you weren't paying attention. You didn't have your foot on the gas. You weren't pushing forward. And that's why you're back in survive mode.

The third mode is STRUGGLING. That’s where it's not working. And here's the thing that I see sometimes in survive and struggle mode. I see people try to grow to profitability. And that does not work. You can't grow to profitability. You have to be profitable all the time. A lot of times what's keeping you in struggle and survive mode is not your conditions. It's your mindset. It's your focus. It's your intentions. It's your expectations. If you want to play a bigger game, you must be a bigger player. If you want to be outstanding, you have to stand out. There's no other way around this. There just isn't.

And then the fourth stage is DROWNING. It's when you're not getting by anymore. You are in crisis mode. This is where you have no cars in the bay and no money in the bank. You have no help. You have no hope. You see, crisis mode thrives on no hope. This is not a linear thing where you go from crisis to struggle to survive to thrive. That's not the way it works. When you go to different levels, you begin again. You'll be in crisis mode. When you start a new level, you’ll go to struggle and then survive and thrive.

It all starts with hope. It all starts with belief, belief with yourself. Not necessarily in your abilities, but in your capabilities where your dreams are bigger than your fears and you are capable of this. I know you are. So, I want you to step back and analyze where you're at now. figure out where you are now and be honest with yourself. Sometimes we use our emotions to decide where we're at. If you have a little bit of money at the end of the month, you're probably in survive mode. Be real with yourself. Know what you're doing and see where you're at and understand that it is not your destination. It is your location. And you can change this. Get some help. Talk to someone from the outside looking in and see what's going on. What I'm talking about is a good coach.

And the reason why I'm bringing this up is that we're starting our round tables.  We have a shop owner round table. You don't have to be a client, but once a month, we'll get together. We'll give shop owners a resource, or they can tap into some amazing knowledge and industry experience with a group of like-minded shop owners. If this is something that would appeal to you, please keep an eye out on our web page and on our Facebook page. You’ll see some notices. I believe it's the second Thursday of each month, but we'll give you more information. We're starting this up because there are too many people out there in crisis and struggle mode that know they need help, and they can't afford it. We want to give people a resource that is absolutely free that helps them. So, get on board, get signed up for it for now.

Remember that there are four stages in a business, and you'll go up and down those stages based on conditions, growth, and mindset. Know where you're at. Know what's causing it and make it better. And get help.

If this resonated, please share it. We have a lot of shop owners out there that need help. I want to say thank you, God, bless, stay safe and go make some money.