201 - From Technician to Shop Owner: Building Success Through Training and Integrity

201 - From Technician to Shop Owner: Building Success Through Training and Integrity April 15, 2026 - 00:58:22 Show Summary: Roberto Ibarra shares his journey from studying automotive technology in Mexico to building a successful repair shop in California. He explains how continuous education and a passion for electrical diagnostics shaped his career. Roberto discusses starting a business during the 2008 recession and why mindset played a critical role in his success. He highlights the importance of honesty, communication, and clarity in customer service. The conversation also dives into technician development and why shop owners must invest in training. Roberto explains his work training technicians and helping them grow in the industry. He closes with advice for future shop owners to learn the business before jumping in.   Host(s): Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development   Guest(s): Roberto Ibarra, Aztek Auto Repair   Show Highlights: [00:04:45] – Roberto moves to the US to continue training and grow his skills [00:06:30] – Discovering a passion for electrical diagnostics changes his career path [00:10:45] – Starting a shop during the 2008 recession with a strong mindset [00:13:30] – Early business mistakes highlight the importance of learning operations [00:18:45] – Customers value honesty and doing the right thing every time [00:25:30] – Poor communication is the biggest failure point in most shops [00:34:30] – Shop owners must invest in technicians to grow the industry [00:39:15] – Training programs help technicians advance and build careers [00:43:30] – Future shop owners should learn inside a shop before starting [00:50:15] – Continuous learning is the key to long term success In every business journey, there are defining moments or challenges that build resilience and milestones that fuel growth. We’d love to hear about yours! What lessons, breakthroughs, or pivotal experiences have shaped your path in the automotive industry? Share your story with us at [email protected], and you might be featured in an upcoming episode.   Don’t miss exclusive insights, expert takeaways, and real talk you won’t hear anywhere else. Hit Subscribe, drop a comment, and share it with someone who needs to hear this!   Links & Resources:  Want to learn more? Click Here Want a complimentary business health report? Click Here See The Institute's events list: Click Here Want access to our online classes? Click Here ________________________________________ Episode Transcript Disclaimer This transcript was generated using artificial intelligence and may contain errors. If you notice any inaccuracies, please contact us at [email protected].   Episode Transcript: Jimmy Lea: Hello friends, Jimmy Lea here with the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence and you are listening to the Leading Edge podcast. And my guest joining me today is Roberto. I Oh, I was Roberto Ibarra: Ibar. Yes. Ibarra Jimmy Lea: Abria, Roberto Abria. He is from Aztec Auto Repair up in the Bay Area near Fremont. Is that right? Roberto Ibarra: That's why in the Heart Fremont is. Jimmy Lea: Oh, I love it. I love it. I'm pretty sure I've driven past your shop once or twice in the last decade and a half that we've been, that I've been in the automotive industry. I'm sure that I've driven past your shop, Roberto, Roberto Ibarra: most likely. Yeah. We have a lot of shops around the area right here. Jimmy Lea: Oh, that's awesome. That is awesome. Roberto I need to tell you a story about my brother, and his name is Robert. And my grandmother came to visit once upon a time, I think Robert was maybe 2, 3, 4, 5, maybe, somewhere in that area. And she says and what's your name? And he says, oh and no. She says and your name is Robert. Can I call you Robbie? Rob and he says, no, my name is Roberto. That's like the one and only time he had ever done that. And we just died laughing because where did he hear this? How did he know his name was Roberto? Roberto Ibarra: Yeah. He liked the, oh, you know the, I have another story with that name. When I came to F Freemont 1996 person was on the shop. And then he say on your uniform, he should say, 'cause I work with my uncle on that time, he should say, Bob, 'cause my name is Roberto. And he say, you should put Bob on your uniform. And I told him, I look at him and I tell him, no, that's a dog's name. He said no. That's my name. He say, that's my name is Robert. He say and we call Bab on us. We, we call Babs the robbers. We call Bobs. I tell no on Mexico we call him Bobby. Bobby. Bobby. The dogs. Bobby. Bobby. Bobby or Bobby. Oh, he say, no, not my David say they say okay. Maybe later. Jimmy Lea: So did you get Roberto on your uniform? Roberto Ibarra: Yes. Yeah. Are you always use Roberto on my uniform? Yeah. Jimmy Lea: Oh, that, that's awesome. There's a sense of pride with a name, isn't there? Roberto Ibarra: Yeah, my grandpa. My grandpa, that's, that was his name. And that's why, yeah, Roberto, is, this is gonna be dead. Jimmy Lea: Okay. So your grandfather's name is Roberto. Is your father's name Roberto? Roberto Ibarra: No, that's my mom's, that's my mom's side. Yeah. Jimmy Lea: And but your uncle's name is Roberto. Roberto Ibarra: No, I don't have the, no more Roberto's in the family. Only my son. My son is Roberto. My, my oldest is Roberto. Jimmy Lea: Oh, see, okay. So we, we are very aligned. I didn't know this Roberto. I didn't know this about you. My grandfather's name is James Arthur. My dad is James Bruce. I'm James Christian. My son is James Derek. So we have an A, B, C, D. Lineage. He's in charge of E so the pressure's off. I'm good. I got, I fulfilled my duty. Roberto Ibarra: No. Yeah, it is complicated. 'cause I have a customer, his name was Manuel. His dad was Manuel and his grandpa was Manuel. And he say, I don't want no more Manuel on my family. So her, Ernest, his son, he never named Manuel his son. He said, no, I don't, I wanna cut it here. He said, Jimmy Lea: oh, that's funny. Roberto Ibarra: Yeah. Sometimes people don't wanna carry the legacy, the or the name basically. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah. And you're right, it does get very confusing. And I tell you, within my own family there's a lot of things that my dad has on his credit that shows up on my credit, and we constantly have to just clean things up. But, and I think that's a good practice no matter what your name is. Chances are you've got some things on your credit that you probably ought to pay attention to and make sure that somebody's not abusing you and using your information. But Robert you talked about moving to America in 96. Roberto Ibarra: That's correct. Jimmy Lea: How, why, what happened? How did you what's the story there? Roberto Ibarra: I graduate as a technician on 19 92, 93. Mexico. I went to school as a, I went to a college for technician, and then when I graduate, I continue my education, because I say I need, this is not enough. Three years was not enough. So I continue going to some trainings, and then I found out that it was not enough. I say I have to continue education. Where's the technology is on north. So I called couple colleges over here in the Bay Area to sign up for getting some more training. And I got, I came to Fremont because there was a college on that time over here. I was, I forgot the name of that college. What was it? Biotech, I think. Biotech. So I came to continue my education. I wanted to get certified a, SC and all that. So I wanted to grow on the industry. Then I ended up getting some training over here on Concord area here on the criminal area. And I start working at the same time, and then I start going to school or to learn the language. So in less than two years, I was already speaking English, pretty much. And then I continued my education. So since that time I thought I wa I was, I wanna get some more education and then that's it. Here I am after almost three years, still going to trainings and myself teaching some other guys after. The technology is never, is not stopping right there. So it is, but I like it. I love it. I love the change. I love the dry. I'm coming from the carburetors area to the computers area, so I'm. I'm not afraid of touching a carburetor, and I'm not afraid of touching a computer because, I have both words on, I have, I, I see both words, 'cause I leave it I leave both of them. Jimmy Lea: Yes. And I love where you're talking, Roberto. You talk about you were in university for three years. Did you learn at all? No. You discovered that the more you learn, the less you know. Then you come to the United States, you are in training for another three years, six years total. Six years now that you're in training. And the more you learn, the less you know. Roberto Ibarra: Oh yeah. It is. It's, it is just when you start, like going to school and then one. One specifically area. And then you see, oh, there's another area, A, B, S Oh, now we have communication computers. You have short sequence. Now you have new technology and there's ac you have a now you have, it is endless. It's endless. There's a lot of things to learn that, it is, you cannot, you can say you, you can say, I have experience, but you cannot say, I know everything. That's not true. Jimmy Lea: So at what point did you realize in your life, at what point did you realize, hey, you know what, this is the industry for me. This is where I wanna be. I enjoy automotive industry. Roberto Ibarra: When I start going, when I started looking at the electricity electric side of the industry 'cause when I was a kid. One of my uncles used to fix televisions, TVs. Yes. And I helped him to open the cases and check the boards, check the resistance, the capacitors, the valves the to do measurements and using the multier and all that. On the, Jimmy Lea: is this back when you were checking TVs and they had fuses inside of them? Roberto Ibarra: Yep. And then we used to check, do some, create some tool to get some, some shocks on ourselves and regulate it, and then so I start, my curiosity start about the electricity on that time. Yeah. So I wanted work on electricity when I was older, when I, Jimmy Lea: oh yeah. Roberto Ibarra: When I start working as a going school, as a mechanic. And then later on I started looking at the sensors and I started facing the signals, battery, 12 walls and all that. I started falling in love on the industry, and then when the computer start coming out, the low voltage, the high voltage, the signals, inputs, outputs, and all that. And then I just felt oh yeah, this is what this is my work. I spent hours and hours working on a circuit with how the circuit operates, doing testings and all that, and using my classroom. Now all I have is. Test equipment and I have a big, oh my Jimmy Lea: gosh, Roberto Ibarra: I have a big screens to, to project whatever I'm doing. I have a GoPro cameras, like five of them projecting on my projectors to see. What's happening, when I do a test and all that. So it is, I just have fun working on the, on this industry, Jimmy Lea: Roberto. That is amazing. And isn't it amazing to see how even just the television industry has progressed from fuses and resistors to where today we have flat screen? Those old TVs were so heavy. They were so big. They were so heavy. And now TVs, they're humongous. They fit on the wall and they're three inches wide. Roberto Ibarra: Yeah. And now you, it is impossible to open one of these TVs and fix them. Jimmy Lea: Yeah, Roberto Ibarra: because yeah, on that time, that was the thing. You, there's a lot of parts that you can buy now. It is that is, it is not. Jimmy Lea: No they've made it as a discard item. You can now just throw it away and buy another one. It's less expensive to just buy another one than it is to fix it, unfortunately. Roberto Ibarra: Yeah. That's why my uncle is not fixing TVs anymore. Jimmy Lea: Yeah, no. There, there's no business for, and I'm, Roberto Ibarra: I don't think they, this industry is gonna end, but we work on cars. Jimmy Lea: So did you go straight from high school right into university to the automotive industry? Roberto Ibarra: Yes. I went to the college, yeah for that. For being a technician? Yeah. Jimmy Lea: Nice. And when did you start Aztec Auto Repair. And what did you do before Aztec Auto Repair? Roberto Ibarra: So I start as the developer 2008 as a, when the, it was a big recession on that time. Jimmy Lea: Oh dude, that is, that was the worst time to start a business. Roberto Ibarra: That was the, it was, yeah, it was Jimmy Lea: ing. That had to be the biggest challenge. 'cause I remember that real estate bubble burst and you are starting a business. Tell me more about that. Roberto Ibarra: My mindset was I'm gonna start a business now. If I make it this couple years on the bad time, I'm gonna make it after that because it's gonna be better. So that was my mindset and I just. Started, with no, with a thousand dollar loan, and then a couple months later I got a $10,000 loan and then I continue buying stuff, until I now you never end, it's never ending buying equipment. But I invest in initial it was, it just it was just a mind mindset. Okay, I'm gonna, if I do it now, that means it's gonna be okay. After that. And Yeah, it worked. It worked. Yeah, because I got I got on the, we can say on when the time was. A lot of shops closing on my area dealers, small dealers. So a lot of business were closing at that time. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Roberto Ibarra: But I saw an opportunity on. Jimmy Lea: And if you're able to operate on a shoestring, here you are starting at the bottom. You got nowhere to go but up. So yeah, you had a great projectory there. Pretty Roberto Ibarra: much. Pretty much, yeah. Pretty much. That was the, but it was the idea and yeah, it is just mindset. Yeah. But the Jimmy Lea: business, I totally agree, Roberto Ibarra: business wise, yeah. It was a bad time to start a business but but yeah, it is. I saw if not now, when. And it just happened. But before, so what Jimmy Lea: were you doing right before, Roberto Ibarra: before that I used I was a partner with a dealership selling used cars, and I was Jimmy Lea: Oh, yeah. Roberto Ibarra: And I was, I'm very Jimmy Lea: familiar with that industry. Roberto Ibarra: Yeah. And I was in charge of the shop, so I have, three or four, five technicians working on a service area. Okay. And I was managing the shop for that service area. I didn't like the sales side of the business. I don't like to to sell cars that, that's not Jimmy Lea: not skillset. It's a different skillset. Roberto Ibarra: Correct. Yeah. So it was not my team, but I was on the service area, so I was okay, because I was doing service and then working on my own things at the same time, managing a crew, sometimes two guys, sometimes three, sometimes sport. And, I, I was. Learning how to run a shop. Basically. On that time I was practicing, but I started my first shop on back in 2000 back in 2000, I started the first shop here on Fremont. A guy opened a shop and he had no idea how to work on gas. He only opened a shop because he just wanted to be a, a mechanic. And then a couple months later he say no, this is not my team. And he say, you want the shop? Back in 2000. Imagine I was only here four years and yeah. Say I wanna get rid of this shop 'cause I'm not, this is not my thing. And he offered it to me. Think he about $10,000 investment. Oh my God. And I said, okay, you make you say I never thought about running that shop on that time. I say, okay, you, you accept payments? And he say, yes, I accept payments. Yeah, gimme payments. And I, and he say, I have some cars already in there. You can continue the repairs and then you can just, go from there. I have no idea how to run a business. And still, I'm learning still, but I imagine so I say why not? And I just I continue the shop. For some for one year. And I create, some customers and all that. I know i new people and all that. And then another opportunity came along. A guy said, you know what? Why don't we invest in a gas station? You run the shop and I run a gas station after one year of the shop and say, okay. And then I, the shop, I transferred somebody, a neighbor say, okay, let's go on the gas station. Maybe it makes more sense. But it was some kind of trap because now it, I, my, the deal was so bad that I didn't have experience how to read deals and all that, contracts. Jimmy Lea: Contracts, yeah. Roberto Ibarra: I ended up, see my lady say, you know what, I think this is not what I wanted to be on the gas station as a it was not, it was. So I say, you know what? I quit and I moved back to working on the dealership. For about seven years I worked on the dealership as a partner and that's when I went to some training for business on that time, like preparing myself. So this is what I did to start my shop that I have now. In 2008, December thousand eight, I wrote a letter and the letter I sent the letter to the secretary of State of this California. To open a corporation an LLCI, I'm, no I don't have the shop yet but I sent the letter December 31st to create a company on the state of California, and I don't know what kind of business, I'm gonna start on 2009, but I wanted to have already the name, they register the name and all that on the state. So I send the letter, I received the confirmation and the approval. February nine or 2009. Yeah. And on right on May. When the guy say the owner of the dealer, she say, you know what I'm gonna close the business, the shop, I'm gonna close the shop and all that. And I, that's when I took over the shop. I say, okay, I'm gonna take over the shop. Lemme talk to the landlord. And he say, yeah, just continue and then just pay the rent and all that. And the I have already the name and all that register on the stage, so I just. Went to get the premise and all that, and I continue the shop. But that's how I got into this shop that I have right now, 2000 and nine May 3rd I Jimmy Lea: started. Oh my word. That's Roberto Ibarra: beautiful. And this is something that I always remember. I start, I came to Fremont 1996. On June the second. June the second, 1996. I came to Fremont and, I started working with my ankle shop. Jimmy Lea: Yep. Roberto Ibarra: June the second, 2009. I got the C the city permit as the name that I have right now. Aztec, I repair Aztec and Enterprise. I got the certificate from the City of Freeman, June the second, 2009. How many years later? 14 or something like that. Jimmy Lea: Oh yeah. No. Public math is not something we do right here, right now. Yeah. Congratulations on what a story, what a path that you have been on to make it here. And lucky for you, you had some lucky strikes that you were able to get your name established. It sounds like you, you went and started down the path of learning about business and you're discovering that. There's a lot about business. You don't know, you know a lot about cars now we need to learn more about running the business from the business side. Roberto Ibarra: That's correct. Yeah, that's right. Jimmy Lea: That's awesome. That's awesome. Congratulations. So to your experience today with Aztec, what do you believe customers feel is the difference when they walk into Aztec? What's the d What differentiates your shop from other shops? Roberto Ibarra: What I see 'cause sometimes I'm in the office, not very often, but like yesterday, I was there last week and sometimes I have to cover someone or they are lunch. And when I go and I ask the people, I, I say hi and I start talking and I ask them, is your first time here? Sometime? They say, yes, it's my first time, second time. And then, and a lot of times, and it is not. This is not me saying it. Okay. Because I 'cause sometimes I don't like to say things about me, but yesterday when I called someone and I told him, Hey, your truck needs this and that, and we have to do this and that, and, and then he say, you know what, yes, I approve the repair and the reason. I'm gonna tell you, he say, the reason I dropped the truck to you and I'm agreed to do whatever it needs is because I feel like you are a good person. You are an honest man, honest business. And I say really well. Yeah. That's, we, as a businessman, yeah. We have, we try to always do the right thing. And that the people are aware of that, right? Sometimes for some reason people don't see it or they don't wanna see it. But when somebody tells you that, it really fits your yeah, I have to continue doing the right thing. There's the only way to grow a business is doing the right thing. It doesn't matter what it takes. Sometimes you take some losses, but. To grow a businesses, you always have to do the right thing. And when people tell you that you, they are here for somebody. Somebody refer, and sometimes even in social media, right? Right now social media, like people see behind the scenes like, the reviews. Sometimes you have a value view, but what's the response? And it depends how you respond, right? People don't see the value view, but they see how you respond to the review. And that's, those are things that life is happens and things happen. Sometimes you not, sometimes may not be happy but you try to do the right thing all the time and get it straight. And people don't wanna, accept it or it's, that's their problem. But you wanna make sure that you can sLeap well on night, like your conscience is I did Jimmy Lea: clear Roberto Ibarra: I wanted to make a right if I made a mistake. And, but if it's not accepted, it's that people's problem is not your problem. But do not go because people sometimes gonna judge you. And we, I'm not the type of person that I, if somebody has a problem with themselves or some other situation, that's their problem. I have my own. And as far as I don't, somebody or do something wrong with anybody. That's whatever they, that's happen on the life. That's their own situation. Yeah. Yeah. But we have to peace of mind. That's the thing. And to have peace of mind, you have to do the right thing. That's the only way. You cannot have peace of mind when you are doing something wrong. As much as you wanna believe. You can't, you have to Jimmy Lea: take Roberto Ibarra: it. Jimmy Lea: You can control the things that you can control. And it sounds like you have very much discovered the fact that you can control yourself and how you respond, but you can't control other people and how they respond. It's their monkey, it's their circus. It's not your monkey. It's not your circus. So you gotta let them do what they're gonna do. Roberto Ibarra: Yeah. And continue. Life. Life continues. A lot of people need your help. Like, when my students go to do the test on the state, I tell 'em, Hey, when you find a question that you don't know, you have no, no clue what the answer is. Just go to the next one, go to the next, and then later you come back to that question. You may remember something, but you cannot stay focusing on something that you cannot, that you have no idea how to resolve it on that minute, on that time. Just move on. That doesn't stop right there. The clock doesn't stop right there. You continue click. Jimmy Lea: Oh, I love it. I love it. That's great advice. Es especially for us in the automotive industry, there's a lot of anxieties. There's a lot of dyslexia. There's a lot of a DHD. There the people it's difficult to take these tests because the tests are created such that there's one right answer and two almost right answers and a third. That's definitely not the right answer. And yeah I love that you're helping to teach these technicians how to take the test, and that really helps. That goes a long way. Helping them in their confidence too. So I have a question for you and it go, and I know you're gonna have a phenomenal answer to this. What does great customer service look like in your shop, specifically? Roberto Ibarra: Great customer service. When you are meet with the smile, with with the smile, because you have a. You have you, you living, you having a night, a good day, 'cause you happy on, on, on the place that you working, you happy with the taste, helping you, you happy with the bus, you know that always on is on your back, backing you up for everything that you do. You have the support so you smile with or good smile, not a fake smile. And then when people see the smile. They feel it when they are, when they, when it's genuine, when it's really a smile, not fake smile. Like sometimes we see on the TV shows, right? And the actors, they smile and then they turn around and they are, Hey, why you guys doing this or that, so that's the first thing you know when somebody comes in they have to see that you having a good day. 'cause Jimmy Lea: yeah, Roberto Ibarra: you working, but you. You are not really working. You are working for your independence, your financial independence. That's what you are doing. Sooner or later it's gonna come. But that's, you have you working for your financial independence that is gonna come either way. So you, you have a, you having a nice day, working on your work, working environment, and people feel it. And then after that, everything is smooth. 'cause everything you asking to the customer is is for their benefit of the customer. How can we help you? This is your car. This is the mileage this is the recommendation. We're gonna do a right inspection. We don't say like we don't sell like oil chains. Why you say, you know what, we're gonna do a right inspection just to see everything else. Not only the oil chains. Because you may need something else. Say, okay, you're gonna check that for me. Okay, great. And then people just take it the nice way, now we are not overselling. Of course, if something comes out, we have sell it, but not because we just wanna increase the numbers because when increase the the safety of the customer or the customer, the customer experience that, okay, these guys check this, all this, they check all this pressure, they take a, took a picture of their filter, the wipers. It is a lot of work that involved because we wanna give the big picture to the customer so they know everything about their cars. The car is an investment that you take care of, that it's not if you don't, maintain it is the investment is. It's gonna go to the ground. To the ground. Jimmy Lea: So where in the process of customer service, where do you feel like most other shops fail? The process of customer service, good customer service, Roberto Ibarra: communication. Communication. And probably two things. Probably communication and clarity. 'cause that's why that when, that's what I noticed when we fell. 'Cause I'm, we not perfect. When we fail for some reason, maybe, and there's no excuses, but sometimes there's a busy day or somebody is going somewhere and then, and we miss the communication part. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Roberto Ibarra: As does the does. And it is not hard to miss it, but also it's not hard to do it, to have the right communication with the customer. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Roberto Ibarra: That's the biggest thing that that probably. You can damage the image of one customer. One shop is when you lose the communication with the customer. You don't have that process followed through all the way. Yeah and clarity. When you communicate, you have to be clear, Hey, we're gonna do this, but after this we have to continue doing that. And then something, oh you told me you're gonna do this, it's gonna be okay. No, remember we told you this. And then after that, we're gonna go to the next step. So you have to be clear. And communication. And clarity. Clarity. That's probably, those are the couple of the big things that I feel, probably another shop owner may tell you something different aspects. It depends, but for me, those are big ones. Yeah. Yeah. When there's sincerity, good communication and clarity. Everything is gonna be smooth because sometimes we, you have good communication, even if the customer is not really ready to do the repairs, but they know e either they do it or not, but they already know. And that's important thing, right? That we have to challenge what it needs. Either they do it or not. That's their decision. Yeah, but they know, even they don't do it on your shop. They may go to somewhere else, but they know that they have to do the service. Like the rates are, about to, and they say, okay, oh yeah I won't do it, but they may go to another shop, but it's fine. But they know that they have to do it, and that's important thing we contribute to the solution. Either we are not part of that, but, it's okay. The sun comes for everybody, right? Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah, it does. It does. And yeah, I Good, clear, precise communication can help alleviate a lot of issues and problems with customers, with clients, with technicians, with business partners, with spouses, with children. Roberto Ibarra: Yes. Jimmy Lea: Good. Clear communication can go a long way, Roberto Ibarra: especially with the spouse. The spouse, the. Yeah, that's the main one. That's the main one actually. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah, that's true. And I noticed that your shop is made up of a lot of family. Your wife works there, and I believe that you have two boys that are working there. Roberto Ibarra: No, my son is in the office and my cousin is running the, she's, she was in the office for so many years now. She runs the school program on the she's like the principal of the school. We can say. My cousin, but she was in the office for so many years and my son is in the office right now. He's on a transition. I don't know if he's gonna continue with us, but it's fine. But he was, he's been here for two years and a half. Yeah. Jimmy Lea: Wow. Roberto Ibarra: And he learn a lot. He, when he came and he had no idea how the industry was in, but he. He was in the office not as a technician side. He didn't, my sons, I have four sons. None of them are like on the mechanic side on the industry. They see the industry, but they don't like technicians. They, it is not like the, they don't get their attention. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah. That's not the job. That's not their passion. It's not what they love. It's Roberto Ibarra: no. Yeah. But Jimmy Lea: they come to daddy, Hey, Papa. Help. Roberto Ibarra: Yeah. But right now we working on, like my son's car, he's a carpenter. He is work, he works on the union as a carpenter. And we doing the service on his cars, rack Andino is broken. Okay. But yeah, he not like, and I don't blame, this is not, as every, any other industry, right? Not, yeah. It's not for, we have skills for this and that. Once we discover them, we always, the sooner, the better. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Oh, for sure. And I see that you're working on it looks like all makes and all models European, Asian vehicles domestic. Is there any vehicles that you're not working on? Roberto Ibarra: EVs, EVs EVs we have the skill to do like alignments, race and all that. We get, couple of those services, but we don't push it that much. Okay. And because the, I don't wanna the invest so much on that industry, the percentage not that much. And the guys, not every take is on EVs. Jimmy Lea: Yes. Roberto Ibarra: And you can force them, Hey guys, now I wanna work on these cars. And then, let's do this service on this deadline, I'm gonna drop the battery and do the, do the, or go do the troubleshooting. And then it, and it is you I feel like I'm imposing. And if they wanna do it, they gonna find their own path. They gonna say you, no, you know what? I would like to take some training on Teslas. They have the curiosity, but when they find that curiosity on them. They follow through, and I can, as a shop owner, Hey, you you really into it? Yeah. I can pay the the training for you. Yeah. And yeah, we can do some, we can put some of, some more of this because you are you like it, you have, you feel attached to that industry, to that industry. Not to that industry, to that technology, right? Yeah. But every tech, I find out that not every tech is into. Electronics, like electricity stuff. Yeah. Is, suspensions, brakes, all that is the same except for some settings you have to use a scan tool to do breaks and things like that. But it's basic still. But yeah, going deep into this technologies, like you have to really like it. You have to really feel it. If not yeah. Just basic services. Yeah. Pretty much. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. And I love that you're talking about the technicians and their passion for the industry. What's their passion? Do they love working on diesel vehicles? Do they love working on combustion engines? EVs or propane is a big thing. Natural gas, not a big thing. It's a thing. And then what's coming next? Is it gonna be hydrogen? Is it gonna be, who knows what's coming next that there, but where's their passion? That's what you're talking about. Roberto Ibarra: Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is. Just look what they do. They and everybody's different, every technician has their own Jimmy Lea: their own strengths. Their own abilities. Their own passions. Their own interests. Roberto Ibarra: Interests and all that. Yeah. And yeah. And some guys like to do engines. Some guys don't like to do engines. Yeah. They like to do suspensions and alignments. And some guys like to do like services, right? Doing the all day long, you doing services, all chain inspections filters, transmission services, and all that is is once they find and then they ask the office, right? Hey, is there any services and that I can do or the service advisor knows already. They discover, oh yeah, this guy likes to this. I'm gonna assign this. And Right, we are, we know Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Roberto Ibarra: We see the potential and the guys that we, they do the most and what they never complain about it. And, but somebody started to say, Hey, oh, I, this is not my thing, like doing tires. Maybe it's not your thing. If there's nothing else, you do it, but it's not like you gonna do it every day. Because there, there's another guy doing the alignments and tires and that's the thing. Yeah. We have to find, we have to find that point where we meet, Jimmy Lea: yeah. Roberto Ibarra: Mission in the office to assign the work, the workflow. Yes. Which is pretty normal on the industry, right? It is. It's every shop probably is doing, does the same thing. Yeah. Finding the right job for the right guys. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Roberto Ibarra: The better we organize that the better flow we find on the shop. Jimmy Lea: For sure. For sure. So we talk a lot about technicians. Let's talk about shop owners now here for a few minutes. When it comes to shop owners, what what do you think are some of the biggest challenges facing business shop owners today? Roberto Ibarra: Big challenges that I see on the field. 'cause I. Work with a lot of techs on my area, on my training is the there's lack of techs, but it is not really lack of tech. It is a lot of the lack of techs that we have on the field, on the industry. It is because the shop owners, a lot of shop owners are not investing on the tax. And that's one, that's number one. Lot of shop owners don't get it. That in order to have to grow tax, we have to invest in them. Yeah. And a lot of shop owners really don't invest on the tax and equipment. Some they getting the point like, okay, we're gonna invest, but already behind. Behind because yeah, you should do it. She did it like 10 years ago and they struggle finding text. Then at the end of the day, you find a tech that is he doesn't have the knowledge or the skill and he wants to grow, but he finds himself on a place where there's not too much opportunity to grow. And they stuck. And then this tech moves to another place. And then he's not being well trained 'cause he's. The problem that it has on the other shop is not really training the guys. It's only like profit. And then we ended up with that SQL or text around just moving around and not really finding a good text. And we and there's good text. Oh, there's a lot of good text. Yeah. But the thing is they don't. They don't go to just any place, right? Yeah, they have now they, they found themselves that they, the value that they have, they know the value they have because the industry has been changing a lot. And they recognize that on them. And they say, you know what, if I'm gonna move, if I'm gonna look around this is the shop that I gonna work for. And they picture that shop on their, the mine. So they, when they come. Ask you some questions. They interviewing you now we interviewing the tech, they interview the shop owner. They, okay, this is what I know. What you, how you guys do things over here. And they like it. They come, but it is a, it's a struggle that is been around for some time, but is because also it's, is some, sometime is, it is for fault, but not only us, right? The education, the educational system that we have. It's not up to date. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Roberto Ibarra: Yeah. Couple of things, we can talk about it, but the thing is that as, as soon as we we as a shop owners understand that we have to invest on the guys. Yeah. So they grow and they wanna grow. Okay, let's let 'em grow let's let 'em grow. Invest on that. Yeah. Oh, I love it. Then once, once they see that you care about them. 'cause that knowledge, they're gonna carry it everywhere they go. Yeah. Not only on the shop. Yeah. That's my saying. You know my saying is, you come to my shop, you have to live better than when you came. And that's always my idea. Jimmy Lea: Oh, I love that. I love that. And I'm sure that you see the same thing that I see those shops that do invest in their technicians, they do invest in training. The technicians elevate, they, they rise to the occasion, they rise to the training they've received. And now as a shop owner, we look around and say, oh my gosh they've improved. Now. What else can I do? A service advisor, service advisors need training as well. And once that service advisor is trained, they're looking around, what can I do? I need a coach. I need a trainer. I need somebody to help me because they know things that I don't know. When we get together, we elevate the entire shop, the entire industry. I Roberto Ibarra: right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Because yeah, you can, you is, as a shop owner, you, we have too many things on the plate. On our plate and on, on my case. I also run the school program, the training program. Jimmy Lea: Tell us about your school that you're running. 'cause you've got the smog check training for the state of California, Roberto Ibarra: correct? Yes. So I have, I run the program for the and the reason I run the program. I like it is because I, 'cause I like to be on training all the time and that I say, this is gonna, this is gonna encourage myself to be on training more, because I have to. To be on top of technology to in order to teach something to the guys. Yeah. So I started going more, more and more on training. And then when I shared the training, I feel like I'm doing something for the industry. I see guys that come to my training, they get certified, they start their own business, and now we've been doing this for seven years now, seven, eight years now. I see people already, you know that they already certify. They start their own business. Now they have one or two, three locations, and some of them became technicians. Some of them, they just do inspections, but it's part of the industry. Oh, I love it. I do this on the, I have a classroom on my shop, the, I have a four day shop, five day shop. Yeah. So one day is for the school. So I have a wall, I have my studio here to shoot videos online and also to do the hands-on training. I have everything that I have every scan tool that you can think of, scopes and all that. So I let him practice on everything that I, this is my idea of the teaching. When the guys come, I just, 'cause I know it's, it is a short class, it's a short training. It's my longest training is three months, and it is not every week. It is like every other week. So they are here now for so long, right? I have another two, another class that is two months long. So when they are here, I like them to see what is out there, but is out there not only on the big, on the carves, on the on. Also in the repair industry. So they see what is out there and then when they see it say, oh man, I didn't know that you can do this with this tool. Or, I don't know. This tool exists to do this simple test like a relative compression test, which is very simple to do. And I'm amazed that right now some guys that are working on cars, they don't know what is a compress relative compression is Jimmy Lea: right, Roberto Ibarra: and how simple it is. Oh, relative test that you can do it in five minutes with the scope and give you a lot of information. Yep. And I'm amazed. Some guys are like still working on cars under the, on the case. They never got, and then they, when they come out, say, oh man, I'm I really, I like it what it is now. I like, but I wanna learn more. You, so I, my idea is to open their eyes and see what they can. They can with little bit of training because they're already on the industry, but a little bit of training they can accomplish a lot. So we have the technology now, and that's the idea, the training, because they are they don't stay with me so long. Yeah. And some they continue coming. I have a group last, the last quarter of 25 and I, the guys that came to my training, they said, I wanna continue going to your training January priority March. So they like the they wanna grow, right? So sometimes that's the only training that they go to because probably are not they. They don't. Jimmy Lea: Oh, I love it. I love it, Roberto. This is freaking awesome, dude. Congratulations. The okay, so what advice, if you were starting your shop today, what advice would you give yourself? And it sounds like you've given the same advice probably to a lot of guys that are starting their own shops as you've been working with them over the last 10 years. What advice would you give yourself if you were to start your shop today? Roberto Ibarra: My advice and is, and this is an advice that I. If somebody told me this 18 years ago, 20 years ago for I starting a shop, this is what I, this is what I like them to tell me. So I rather go to a shop and let me work on that shop or be on the shop two, three months as a looking. The process and all that. I can pay the shop just for them to letting me be on their side and look what they do, invest, I don't know, 1, 2, 3, 4 months run to see how they run the shop, what things happen on the shop and all that. So I can see what's the real world when it comes to running a shop. And. I don't know if their shops are willing to do that, right? Okay, you can come to my shop, pay me, I don't know, five, $10,000 and you wanna be exposed to what is what it is to run a shop and then doing the investment. You wanna learn, you wanna see, reality. And then after that, you're gonna have the best training. Because what happens is this, that's what I see. You go, you open a shop. You are a technician and then you say, oh, I like to run a job. And then you find out that you are not a shop owner, you are a technician, which is different thing. Running a business is not the same thing as a fixing in a car. And then that's when everything starts to you start like feeling bad because you cannot work on us anymore and you cannot. Really service the people the right way because you don't know how to do it. And then sometimes it's a struggle that sometimes the shops does it drain you out, it drain your energy. Yeah. And I've seen it, I seen it with guys in my area that happens to them. They have laws, they have to move something else 'cause they just lose interest because they didn't know those things. And so there's a, a. A place where I can get trained all this time and see what it takes to run a shop. So I know, 'cause yeah, I can go to some trainings, but probably the best training is going to direct to a shop. I don't know if a lot of shops are willing to train someone, but maybe there is, there's a good shops that they can let you know, somebody learn the business side. Just watch. Just watch. Because, you get that call, Hey I just, I assume my car and my car doesn't start like in the next half, an hour later. And then you get that call. What you gonna do about it? You don't have experience. Your blood goes to, you feel like your energy just drain all the way because you don't know what to do. You not, you don't have experience something. Yeah. And then after that moment, you don't have experience. Everything else, you do every decision you do after that moment when you get that call that people is customer is frustrated, you just gonna lose it. And you can make a bad decisions. Yeah. So you have to be prepared for everything and you have to know that those things happen and on the shop. So it is, yeah. My best advice is to get. Onboard with a shop and get, be there. Jimmy Lea: Training, invest in yourself. Yeah. And if there's a technician listening to this or there's somebody who wants to be a shop owner that's listening to this, go, like you're saying, Roberto, go to a shop, work there. Or if you are already there, goes talk to the shop owner and say, Hey, look I, in my three-year, five-year plan, I wanna own and operate. I wanna run a shop. What can you do to help train me for my future? There's a lot of free classes and courses you can take from community college, from chamber of chamber of Commerce. There's a lot of different places that you can go to and get that foundation, which is investing in yourself, and you'll discover one or two things. I can't wait to be a business owner. This is gonna be awesome. It's gonna be so amazing. I'm thriving on learning these numbers and the parts markup and the matrix and the parts labor. And I love how this all works together. Roberto Ibarra: Yeah. And two books that you should read. The, one of the books, two books that I, for the industry that I work pretty good for the industry is the Spark. That's one book Spark and the other one is Profit loss. Profit First. Jimmy Lea: Profit First. Yeah. Roberto Ibarra: Probably those two. It will give you a pretty, pretty good idea on the business side? Yeah, Roberto Ibarra: on the business side of the numbers, how the numbers work. Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Great business advice for sure. Roberto Ibarra: Yeah, those two. Because, sometimes we are excited because, oh, somebody offered me this shop, I'm gonna jump in and I'm gonna, start working on cars and all that, and I'm gonna. Be happy and then, but the thing is, I love work on cars and I'm happy that I have somebody help helping me in the office now that I can work on cars and I can shoot videos, I can you know this, in my area, I can do whatever I want. I have everything that I need to work on a car. I have I can program my computers, I can program everything. I have contact with. These great companies, like our Logic, a tools and computer, they help me when I get stuck. So I have all the support that I possible, and I'm, and besides that I'm teaching, which is something that I feel passionate about it. And when I teaching I just lose the, I don't know, the time, I just lose track of the time. It's not the same thing as owning a business. When you run the numbers, those are called numbers. The numbers are called they don't charge to you. They just, there's no fund. There's no it just a number that if it is one plus one is two, two plus two is four, and that's it. And red numbers. It's red numbers. It was something, didn't render the, the right way. Something happened, you just not make making a profit. Jimmy Lea: Oh, yeah. So true. The numbers don't lie, Roberto, this is what you're saying. The numbers are there and the numbers are numbers. You need to know your numbers and we hear that in the auto industry all the time, especially amongst shop owners. You've gotta know your numbers. You gotta know those key performance indicators. Roberto Ibarra: That's right. Jimmy Lea: Because as you're investing in yourself, you're gonna discover that you wanna be in business and you love it. Or the second thing you're gonna learn is, Hey, you know what? I really love working on cars and that's where my passion is. I really don't want to be a business owner. Roberto Ibarra: Yeah. Yep. So Jimmy Lea: in invest in your technicians, because it, they're either gonna be your best friend, competitor, and they're not your competitor, they're your best friend, or they're gonna become one of your best employees. Roberto Ibarra: Korea. I have a neighbor, he own a shop right here. He worked work for me for 10 years. Yeah, he is right here next door and he runs his shop with his friend, their partner, and yeah, we friends and Jimmy Lea: that. I love it. I love it. I love it. Roberto, we wind this down. I wanna run some quick. Questions past you? One word answer, one sentence answer. This is rapid fire. I've got five quick questions for you. You ready? Roberto Ibarra: Ready. Jimmy Lea: Okay. Number one, what's one tool you can't live without in your shop? Roberto Ibarra: Scope. Jimmy Lea: A scope? Okay. What's your favorite type of job? Diagnostic, maintenance. Big repairs or electrical? What do you love the most? Roberto Ibarra: Electrical. Jimmy Lea: I could have called that. What's the best business book or podcast you've learned from? Roberto Ibarra: Okay, say it again. Jimmy Lea: What is the best business book or podcast that you've learned from? We just talked about two books. Do you have a third or is there a podcast that you've learned from? Roberto Ibarra: I learned from this what was his name? What is his name? He's always on the expertss. He had, what's his name? Jimmy Lea: Lucas Underwood with Changing the Industry podcast. Roberto Ibarra: I know him, but there's another guy who was before him. I think his Italian name. Italian name? Jimmy Lea: Karm. Capto Caprio, Roberto Ibarra: yeah. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Jimmy Lea: Remarkable Results Radio. Roberto Ibarra: Yeah. Yeah. I started listening to him long time. Oh Jimmy Lea: yeah. Yeah. I love him. He's got a great program. What habit that, what what is a habit that has improved your leadership? Roberto Ibarra: Talk to the guys more. Jimmy Lea: Communication. Communication. You talked about that. What do you wish your customers understood about owning a repair shop that they don't understand today? Roberto Ibarra: Know their car. Read the menu. Read the menu of the car. Yeah, they have no idea. Jimmy Lea: I love it. I love it. All last and final thought. What. What do you want your listeners to remember about Roberto and Aztec auto repairs? Roberto Ibarra: That there's always something to learn and never stop learning. Never have Jimmy Lea: That is so true. It was so Socrates. Socrates who said, the more I learn, the less I know. Roberto Ibarra: Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. But it's always fun. Yes. Jimmy Lea: Because the more you learn, the more you learn that, oh my gosh, there's so much. I don't know. There's so much more I need to learn. Roberto Ibarra: Yeah. Just open your eyes. Thank Jimmy Lea: you. Yes, Roberto. Thank you very much, brother. I really appreciate your time. Thanks for joining here, us here at the Institute for the Leading Edge podcast. Roberto Ibarra: Oh, no. Thank you very much, Simi. See you next time and have a great year.