The NOLN Podcast

To celebrate the first-ever Best Workplaces awards, NOLN is bringing the award winners back for special interviews. This time, we're speaking with Jerod Starch, who manages Lube Pro Oil Change and Inspection Xpress in Lubbock, Texas. It's an impressive operation for its size, and this is an exemplary shop for taking care of its people.  

The vehicle odometer determines a lot of service recommendations for customers. But is that enough to convince them to buy into it? Today, we're speaking with the founder of Fluid Rx Diagnostics about vehicle fluid testing, the science behind it, and how accurate testing can help shops' bottom lines. The company has an interesting and deep history in the vehicle maintenance world, and founder Ron McElroy shared that story with NOLN.

Just the other day, Tim Armstrong of At Your Convenience On-Site Oil Service made a Facebook post about a young man who stopped at the shop with a lot of questions and interest in technical work. Instead of just performing the service, Armstrong worked with the young man and showed him the ropes. That's just kind of operator Armstrong is, and he came onto The NOLN Podcast to talk about starting a successful mobile oil change operation, how he's grown it and how he ultimately got into a physical garage.

Larry Witherspoon, founder of the Automotive Training Center in East Point, Georgia, speaks to NOLN about working with the young workforce and how to get the best out of them. He shares what he's learned in his eight years working with at-risk youth and what anyone should know if they plan on taking on an apprentice or a young technician.  Here's the story of Witherspoon's center and how it started: https://www.noln.net/articles/4804-inside-the-automotive-training-center

Jordan Mosely, operator of seven shops in the Dallas, Texas, area, speaks to NOLN about how he launched his independent quick maintenance brand. Mosely also has longtime experience with the well-known Kwik Kar Lube and Tune brand as an operator, and he shares his perspective about keeping his shop messaging effective to customers.

Hiring and firing are actions that all operators take, but few are experts in those areas. So NOLN brought an expert in to speak to those crucial times in an operation. Roxi Bahar Hewertson is a consultant, business expert and author of books like "Hire Right, Fire Right: A Leader’s Guide to Finding and Keeping Your Best People." She spoke with NOLN about how to set up employees for success at the hire, as well as how operators and managers can be thorough and respectful when it's time to let somebody go.

When new vehicle technologies emerge, the quick maintenance industry will be there to meet them.  While researching potential services of the future, associate editor Matt Hudson spoke with Gene Smotkin, who is a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Northeastern University. He's also the founder of Nuvant Systems, which sells battery repair and reconditioning equipment. Smotkin talked about the science and engineering behind battery performance and, more importantly, how auto shops can provide routine maintenance on batteries to keep them running longer.

In a special podcast presented by BOLT ON TECHNOLOGY, BOT director of marketing Tim Cifelli shares how to avoid becoming "The Greying Garage" and position your shop for high AROs and revenue in the 2020s. 

This week's episode is part two of our conversation with Dynamic Automotive CEO Dwayne Myers. If you missed part one, don't worry, we recap the highlights, but you can also listen to it at noln.net/podcasts. This episode picks up after the financial crisis of 2007 and Dynamic's issues with their new larger bank. Learn how partners Dwayne, Lee and Jose picked up the pieces, fought back and ultimately pulled themselves out of debt, going on to create a world-class, industry-leading shop operation.

If you've met Dwayne Myers or his partners at Dynamic Automotive, Lee and Jose, you know they're salt-of-the-earth people. Gracious, kind, funny, not to mention the owners of a killer operation. But that hasn't precluded them from tough times. In fact, in 2007 and 2008, they went through a period that nearly destroyed them. It was a period so destructure it moved past burnout into nearly a midlife crisis. In part one of this story, Dwayne breaks down the beginning of the issue that continued to steamroll, and how growing too quickly played into the problem.