Chris Cotton:
So hey everybody, Chris Cotton, Auto Fix Auto Shop coaching here. I’m not even dressed to record right now, but I guess it really doesn’t matter. Not going to win any style points for how I dress I guess. I’ve been working in the office, obviously talking to clients, listening to the news a little bit. I don’t really tend to give too much credence to the news, but we’ve got a hot button topic and I don’t know how this is going to go and I don’t know how you’re going to feel about it, but sometimes somebody’s got to grab you by your shirt or your belt and set you straight and maybe just think about it a different way. So I want to talk about it. We’ll see what happens and we’ll go from there.

Chris Cotton:
So the topic I want to talk about is the $15 an hour minimum wage. A lot of people are upset about it. A lot of people are throwing a fit because … I get it. You don’t like people telling you what to do, but if you’re not going to advance your culture, and if you’re not going to advance your business, then maybe sometimes somebody needs to grab you by the shirt and point you in the right direction. We’ve been hearing for years and years and years now that there’s a technician shortage and we can’t find good people and this and that. And there’s always a reason why you can’t be successful and so that’s what we’ve been laying it on. But part of the reason for that is because we don’t pay our people very well at all. You have people in starting jobs that eventually some of them want to be great technicians someday, and you give them a crappy pay plan, and you also don’t give them any direction or any training.

Chris Cotton:
So guess what, bub, I’m telling you to look in the mirror and see what you can do. Typically when you do an exit interview on an employee and ask them, “Why did you leave the company?” most of them say, “There’s no direction. I had no path,” or “The things that the owner told me a year ago are not the same things that are going on right now.” So I guess my point is, if you want good employees, you need to have a great pay plan. And maybe that pay plan starts out with having entry level employees that you’re paying 15 bucks an hour to. The state of Florida, they’re going to get there eventually anyway in the next four or five years. So guess what? Get ahead of the curve for you people in Florida. You people out in the West coast, you’re already almost there anyway. So why not? Why not be ahead of the game?

Chris Cotton:
Let’s set a new perception and a new picture of what we want for the automotive industry moving forward versus the old greasy mechanic that just bangs around on things with a hammer and a wrench. You guys know that’s not true. So why are we perpetuating this myth or whatever? I’m telling you, you need to get a great pay plan. And if that’s 15 bucks an hour for your entry level people, then you need to do it. Other jobs, other industries don’t have a problem charging what they’re worth. Auto shop owners are great people, but a lot of time, I don’t think they feel like they’re worth more than what they’re charging.

Chris Cotton:
So anyway, that’s my little rant on the 15 hour minimum wage. Get used to it, get over it and stop waiting for somebody else to force you to do it. Do it yourself. Be a grownup. Be a business owner. Get it done. Have a great day, everybody.