#76 Goals Check In Half Way There
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[00:00:00] One, two
What's up, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the All Access podcast from Dent Repair Now. Number 76, the year I was born, 1976, the bicentennial of America. Now we're at 250 years, so, right? America. Uh, 4th of July is this upcoming weekend, um, so this is the last episode before 4th of July. Um, so happy birthday America.
Let's get after it. Guys, can you believe that it is already the end of quarter two? Q2 is [00:01:00] done, right, this week. So today's the 28th, 29th, 30... So what's the first? Wednesday? 28, 29, 30, yeah, yeah, well, whatever, Tuesday, Wednesday. We are into the second half of the year this week. I told you we don't do goals just once a year.
We revisit them maybe even more often than this 'cause it's always shifting, but at a minimum, we are re, uh, checking our goals every quarter, and I'm here to help hold you accountable for checking your goals and seeing where you're at. So I went back and looked at notes from, uh, the beginning of quarter two, the end of quarter one, uh, and that was right w- uh, when we lost Dave, and making some shifts into here, right?
Q1 is typically our slowest quarter, um, of the year, right? Coming into quarter two, which is the ramp-up to the busy season. But we were making some shifts this [00:02:00] year. Ugh, it has been a grind. Uh, I think I've even talked about that on some of the episodes. Uh, you guys have seen I've been a little worn out, working like a maniac.
Um, we're still in the thick of work, right? I could have, in fact, worked all weekend, but, right, like all work and no play makes Gene a dull boy.
Looking back on quarter two for us, good quarter, productive quarter, profitable quarter. Those are all good things. Um, I did not
Did I not get the time? Did I not have the time? Did I not make the time? Those are the questions. However, because quarter two was so absolutely crazy busy, I did not get the time to work on the business as [00:03:00] much as I wanted to, right? So here we are coming into Q3. I'm really hoping that this we- I was hoping it was last week, but leave it to the insurance companies to drag their feet and slow things down.
I was really hoping last week was gonna be my last crazy week. This week I still got a little bit of crazy left, uh, but not too much. So I'm hoping that this week sort of levels out, uh, and I can get back to working on the business and not so much being stuck on working in the business. So first question for you guys, how Did quarter two work, work out for you?
Did you get to work on your business or were you stuck working in your business? What was your blend like, right? Send me some DMs, drop some comments on the post. I wanna hear how your quarter two went, right? I want feedback. Now, I sort of stay in touch with a few of you guys, and I know that you're killing it, you're making [00:04:00] progress.
I love that you keep grinding along. This is your wake-up call or your roll call to come back to the table and revisit your goals for quarter three, right? I think my biggest surprise for quarter two is just how busy we were. I mean, like, thank goodness. It's... I've, I've got friends, I talk to, um, PDR businesses, PDR business owners all over the country that are friends, and there are quite a few, uh, that I talk to that aren't doing so hot, right?
That they're struggling a little bit. They need some more revenue coming through the door. We just need to get more work done, right? So, uh, that's a good thing. Um, let me look at my notes here What are we working on? You know, so let's, let's for me, let's talk about Q3, [00:05:00] uh, and where we are headed here, uh, and what we're working on.
Uh, so I've been teasing the new, um, beginner's podcast, beginner training, uh, world, um, that is in the works, right? In fact, I'm making a special trip in a couple of weeks, uh, to a trainer to do some interviewing and talk to them and get their philosophy, and that's gonna be one of the episodes for it. Um, the podcast, right, it's gonna be Netflix season style, right?
So we're gonna drop a whole season at the same time. Uh, it's gonna be the PDR Life podcast, right? Just a no BS look at what this business looks like, what it takes to get into this business, um, what tools to use, everything like that. I'm, I'm really excited for it. Um, but right, we've been-- I've been talking about that.
Uh, it was a goal for last quarter and, uh, just with the amount of work, it [00:06:00] didn't happen. Making it a priority this quarter, uh, to happen. You know, talking to Melissa about it and Mac, uh, and Liv is ready to, you know, come back and we'll work some evenings and get these things shot. But super excited, uh, at the, the new podcast to come out and then all the fun stuff that, that comes along with that and some of the new opportunities, uh, that we're trying to put out there.
leaning heavier into using AI to help leverage what I'm working on, right, what we're doing. So, right, like I've, I've started using AI... And maybe we need to do an AI episode. That would be cool. Make a note in the show notes to do an AI episode, to me. Um, I've been using AI, uh, to work through the podcast, right?
So, so my workflow is sort of like record this, and then I take it into a editor, rip out the audio, run that through an AI [00:07:00] that transcribes everything. Uh, and then, uh, I've now built a workflow in Claude that helps me work through that, gives me my show notes and, uh, some talking points, my YouTube descriptions.
Uh, what used to take a long time, even going back to the PDR Marketing Minute days, uh, where I outsourced, call it like show notes and article writing to a, a physical person. Um, and those were short shows, like, you know, three to 10 minute- like a long episode was 10 minutes on there. Um, she would take and write and publish.
Like, I've got AI doing that in a matter of minutes, right? Just throw the transcript in, or I throw the audio in, it shoots out a transcript. I throw the transcript in, and boom, it's off to the races. Uh, we've been looking at, uh, some AI for Google Ads to help tweak and refine that. Um, so AI and, and leveraging it.
[00:08:00] No, not- we're, we're not trying to replace anybody. We're trying to use it as a tool to help magnify the time that we have to put into the business, right? So question two, let's see if I can keep track of all these questions. How- are, one, it's a two-part, are you using AI in your business? And part two of that question, how are you using AI in your business?
What, what are you using AI for to help make your life easier? Because if you're there, why not do it, right? So we're gonna be working on AI. We're gonna be working on the new, um, podcast also, right through another interesting turn of events, and this is why we're always pivoting and, and staying open to new changes.
Uh, and I've had a few of you reach out, um, starting to do a little bit of coaching, a little bit of one-on-one coaching about your PDR business, right? [00:09:00] We've scaled this business up to multiple technicians, multiple employees, brick-and-mortar location, um, great sales every year. Happy to talk about how we did it and help...
more importantly, help you reach your goals, right, and work through. So if you are struggling or looking for some coaching to help you kick a whole lot of ass in Q3 and Q4 and the rest of your life, uh, reach out. Uh, I am, I am currently accepting some coaching clients, so if you are interested, hit me up.
Those of you who have reached out, you don't need to reach out again, right? We're working on it. We're headed down that path, and your packages will be up and ready soon. So hit me up. Uh, you can DM us on, or DM me on Facebook. If you've got my cell, hit me up on a cell. Email me, [email protected], and I will personally check it out and reach out.
[00:10:00] Um, and the way we do that is we do a, uh, a free discovery call. So we will schedule a time to hop on a call and make sure that, one, I can help you, and two, that we're a good fit, and three, that you like me. 'Cause if you don't like me, you probably don't wanna talk to me and be coached along by me. But probably wouldn't listen to my ep- probably wouldn't be listening to my podcast anyways if you didn't like me.
So there is that.
Some other things. Consistency, right? I challenged myself. Now this is one that we're staying on, right, all the way back to... It may have even started at the end of Q4 last year, but I made a promise to you guys. Maybe it was this year. Anyways, end of last year, beginning of this year, uh, right, so this is a goals check-in, and not all goals are, are done in a quarter.
Not all goals need to change if you're on track, but it's good to check in, [00:11:00] right? So I made a promise to you, my audience, for this show, that I was not going to miss a single episode all year long. I'm gonna drop a new episode every week. Now, I've missed some Mondays. My bad. And if you notice, I think it's in the outro, it doesn't say new episodes every Monday anymore.
I gave myself a little out, and it says new episodes every week. So with the chaos that lives over there in, in the shop, um, I can't always... Man, it is gonna storm. Maybe it's gonna hail. If it hails, this podcast needs to be redone because we will shift all of our goals to maximize the hailstorm. Anyways, uh, I made a promise to you guys that, that, and, and really a challenge to myself, that I wasn't gonna miss a single episode all year on the All Access podcast.
And to date, at the end of Q2, right, halfway there, I've [00:12:00] not missed a week. What I'm noticing with that and, and where I slipped last year, right, in, in the beginning of the show, really, I guess, have we been doing it for two years? I'd have to go back and look and see when we started. But anyways, what I'm noticing is One, by setting that goal and holding myself accountable because I don't like to lose.
But two, making it a priority to get this done every single week, even if I s- falter on, you know, the couple days before, and it doesn't come out till Tuesday or Wednesday, I have that sort of in the back of my head grinding notion. It's like, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, I gotta get this episode done." As I've progressed through the first six months of the year, so what is it, 24 episodes?
24, 25, depending on how the weeks fall out. [00:13:00] Um, it gets easier every week to show up and get this done, right? Before, before I made the commitment of like, "I'm not gonna miss a week. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna make it happen," it was easy to let it slide by because I'm like, "Well, I didn't really promise anybody."
Like I know it says every week, but like... Or every Monday, but we'll see what we can do. Or because it said every Monday, if I missed the Monday, I was like, "Well, I, I missed this Monday. It's almost like I shouldn't do it because it's not on a Monday." Right? It's kind of, uh, BS that I would let myself do that, but these are the little psychological tricks that, that play in the back of your head Consistency with showing up and getting this done is showing me how being consistent builds strength and endurance to continue on and make it happen, right?
So [00:14:00] there's a lesson learned from me by grinding it out for you guys, right, over this six months, right? Like, it is more about... I guess it's becoming, y- and we've had this talk before, it's becoming more of a discipline than a motivation to do it, right? My motivation to do this, like, "Oh, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this.
I'm gonna fire it up. We're gonna go." Probably if I go back and li- listen to the episode where I make that promise, I'm all gung ho. Well, the gung ho is gone, not because I don't love doing this, but, like, you can only stay motivated for so long. However, I'm forcing myself to be disciplined in, uh, getting this show out every week, right?
I am trying to discipline myself to eat better, to take care, better care of myself , to lose some weight, uh, like throughout the year. And really coming back from vacation and jumping on that, like, I've been doing pretty well the last couple of [00:15:00] weeks, for the most part, except for a couple little slips, of staying on the plan that I'm working for myself.
And when I have faltered, much like missing a Monday podcast, I don't make it so like, "Well, I faltered today. I will forget about the rest of the week." Nope. It was just a little falter in my step, and I'm right back on it and following my plan, even though I misstepped for one day, right? It's not the end of the world.
Correct, redirect, and get back on course. Like, that is, that is it. So Q3 for us, right? New podcast, beginner program, adding coaching to the mix. I want more content going out there. It has been a trend where, like, we're doing well with this content, and then this gets split up, and my, you know, like, quick tip Q&As where I, like, grab the phone and literally like, "Hey, check out this pen.
I found out this thing [00:16:00] is awesome and it writes on paper," right? These simple little, um, how-tos or, or what to dos, uh, have been working really well. Getting great engagement, uh, on social media, planning to do more of those. Uh, and I've had quite a few customers, right, all the time, but really as of late it seems to be a little trend where I've got customers coming in and they're like, "Listen, I came here because of your reviews," which is cool, "and I watched your videos.
I saw you. I watched your YouTube. I liked what you did, and I'm here because of what you put out on YouTube." That means a lot, right? Like, for years, and I've had this discussion with, with quite a few people, quite a few friends, like, that I really look up to, and we sort of struggled or struggle to put, like, the dollar value on, like, what is the dollar value for repair customers [00:17:00] for creating all of this content?
Man, I've been doing YouTube videos, I would say at least semi-consistently-ish for 10 years now, right? When Keith Cosentino was my business coach, one of the things we worked on was video, right? And I started, and, and really had been playing with some video, but Keith pushed me to get on video and get comfortable on video and put the reps in 10 years later, for what that's worth, I literally am seeing and talking to customers that are coming through the door that are like, "I am specifically here," or, "Your videos pushed me over the edge to be here because I got to see exactly what you're doing and how you're doing it and going after it."
Right? And they're walking through the door, and they're saying that. That is powerful, right? And as I think more [00:18:00] and more people watch less television and watch more ... Like, personally, I watch a ton of YouTube on my television in my living room, right? If I'm gonna watch ... If I sit down and watch something, it, it is either, um, occasionally the news, mostly for the weather if I w- you know, if we've got storms coming through and I wanna see something local, or as not, as not a sports guy, as, as much of not a sports guy as I am, if I'm watching a live sports show, um Rarely am I watching regular TV for a show.
If we're gonna watch it, we're gonna watch it on a streaming service. And then most evenings, I sort of wrap my day up with YouTube, uh, sometimes for entertainment, sometimes for education
The way I look at YouTube, a-and I've certainly mentioned this in the past, but it's even more prevalent [00:19:00] now, when you are on their big screen in their living room, you are now a TV celebrity, right? Because you come to them, you are a celebrity. Matter of fact, I got YouTubers that if I met, it would be just like meeting a TV personality for me.
Um, I would double down on more video, right? That is, we are working hard on that. Um, and then, you know, that's, that's it, right? So that's, that's what we're working on. Quarter three is only about 90 days long, right? And it starts this week. So that's where we're getting after. Let me check through my notes here.
Yeah, so here's your challenge, right? I asked you a couple of questions. I want you to, right, if you're out busy working, when you stop for lunch, instead of diving into the, the brain rot machine that is TikTok or Instagram, unless you're watching Dent [00:20:00] Repair Now videos, I'll give you a pass. Um, sit down and take 20 or 30 minutes, reflect on your year, where you're at, and set a couple tangible goals for quarter three.
And, and again, just like, um the weekly podcast episodes from me. Uh, it doesn't need to be something that is completed or done in, uh, a quarter, but it could be something that you set into motion for quarter three that really, really runs you along. Um, get that done. And I wanna hear it, right? If you feel, if you feel so inclined, right, send me, to hold yourself accountable, send me your goals.
What are you working on? Or send me a couple of goals. Hey man, here's what I'm doing. Here's where I wanna go. And then when we get to our quarter three goals check-in, what is that? [00:21:00] July, August, at the end of September, right? You'll have them. Check back into your phone or your notebook or wherever you keep them and see where you're at and what you're working on, right?
So get those goals set. Um You win at business, you win at life by taking that one step at a time. Keep moving in that forward direction. One of my best or one of my favorite, uh, stories about that steady work is, I believe it was Chad Wright, uh, who was a Navy SEAL, um, was talking about his journey through BUD/S, right?
The, the SEAL, um Qualification school, I guess you would call it. And one of the things they do is they go on a run. Like I think it's just laps up and down the beach. But there is not like, "Hey, you're doing 10 laps." Like you are running until [00:22:00] the instructor tells you you're done running, right? So it is almost a, probably I'm sure at the time, feels like an endless, unattainable, unreachable goal He said, right, and he passed, he passed the training.
Um, he said what he noticed is the guys who were like, "How much longer do you think we have? How much this? How long? I don't know. When are they gonna blow the whistle?" Those are the guys who didn't make it. They tapped out. And he said his mantra or what he wanted to do was like, "I just have to take one more step.
I just have to take one more step." If you just keep taking one more step, even if they're small, even if they're slow, they will get you there, right? So when you're working, keep moving forward. Make progress, even if it's small progress, right? I wanna record 30 videos by the end of the year talking to [00:23:00] customers about this.
Well, 30's daunting, but if I can record one, right, and then in a week record another one, or in a few days record another one, and just start chipping away and making that progress, and also tracking that progress so you can look back and be like, "Man, I started over here, and I took a baby step and a baby step and a baby step and a baby step."
Well, if you keep taking those baby steps, before you know it, you'll get over to here, and you look back at where you started, and you're like, "Man, I've made a ton of progress." It's really kinda how I feel about this not missing any weeks for you guys, right? But get after it and get done with it. Um, that's it.
Goal check-in. Get those goals going. And now it is time for
The tool of the week. How cool was that? Liv put that together for us so we could [00:24:00] transition in to the tool of the week. So this tool, uh, and really I guess there's, there's quite a handful of them, but this is my specific tool that is on my cart, right? That's the... I don't know, was that the Marines or something?
There are a lot of the rifles like this, but this is my rifle. Anyways, this week, my hero tool, my tool of the week, um, it has gotten me out a bunch- out of a bunch of jams, but specifically this week, uh, it kind of saved my ass on a tough Audi Q3 quarter panel down at the edge. Uh, but really this thing gets me out of a ton of jams.
Uh, but it was sort of the star of the show. And much like last week, we've got a little twofer, um, with a little add-on that I didn't even know existed, but my buddy Charlie, shout out Charlie, um, was like, "Oh, I have these. You should try it." Anyways, it is this 3/8 [00:25:00] interchangeable tool from Tequila, right, with the standard hub, double band, oh, let's call it probably 24 inches, 30 inches, maybe 30.
Nice tool. The magic, right, and I can remember back in the day, everybody wanted this and none of the manufacturers could really get it right. This interchangeable tip, right, threaded so it takes your tips, still takes the standard 5/16 thread tips. So all of your tips work on here, right? So there's been several times where I could sneak this through the small out hole, outside hole where I needed leverage from, and then sneak inside, right, with something taken apart, put a tip on, then I'm not destroying the hole.
Um- Whatever process they're using to heat treat, temper these tools... Excuse my [00:26:00] cold glue on there. Looks like it's got a little growth or something. Anyways, uh, I've not had a failure. I've actually not heard of a failure either. Uh, when they're... That, that wall is so thin, uh, but the tool is so strong. And, like, cranking on it, I even have the straight, um, tactical handle, I suppose it is, uh, that goes on the end with an extension, so I could actually make this a pretty long tool, and it's all super rigid.
Tons and tons of drive. Uh, of course, available at ansonpdr.com. I will try to find the link to this specific tool and, uh, get you there. So that Audi that this tool saved my butt on, I couldn't quite finish it off, so I needed, like, I needed more kick, but I did not have, nor did I know that anybody had extensions for this.
[00:27:00] Well, I happened to be helping Charlie with a truck, and I'm like, "Hey, dude, do you have anything like this?" And he goes, "Yep, I have these Finesse..." Thank you, Bonnie. "I have these Finesse extensions" That are three-eighths diameter with five-sixteenths threads, right? So I was able to... Because I was, I had just the, um, just the hole that the grommet goes in, that the pin goes in on the, uh, Audi to sneak in.
So I ha- I had no extra... I could not fit anything bigger really than this three-eighths through there, right? So I was able to put this extension on, which gave me the kick and reach that I needed. And it also comes with a set of three-eighths tips in different shapes. I couldn't even actually fit an R4 cap through the h- or did I fit an R4 cap through that hole?
There was another job I did this week that was [00:28:00] like that, where it comes with a set of three-eighths tips. Got another one hiding back there, right? Three-eighths diameter, five-sixteenths Uh, threads. Magical. So there's another twofer. Tool of the week, a tool of the week. So Liv, we need a tool of the week twofer animation or something, right?
Pretty cool. Um, anyways, the Tequila tool. Do a little ASMR in there for you. Tequila tool available at ansonpdr.com. And these Finesse extensions are available at... Is it finessepdrtools.com or pdrfinesse? Anyways, Google it. I get it backwards every single time. But, um, amazing. Love it. Saved my butt. Uh, if you don't have [00:29:00] some good 3/8 tools, you really gotta check 'em out.
If you're, if you're trying to not drill, trying to, um, you know, be as inobtrusive or in... Inobtrusive? I guess that's the word. Anyways, if you're trying to do better repairs, you need tools that allow you to do better repairs. Uh, and that is a combo that, again, I- I've had this for quite a while. In fact, you can probably see how scratched up and scraped up it is.
Um, super, super handy tool. Amazing. Go check it out. All right, guys, coming up, I'm ready to get my MTE shirt on today. Uh, we've got the PDR Expo, same company as MTE, coming up in Las Vegas, uh, September 25th and 26th at the Rio. Uh, new education series coming out, or new education style coming out. Um, competitions are gonna be awesome.
Mac is [00:30:00] going out for the beginner's competition, right, under two years. I told him he better win it or he might live in Vegas then. Like, he could be the homeless guy that lives on the, the, the bridges that go across the strip. Um, anyways, speaking of which, on cue, he hits the button. So that's coming up.
I'm gonna have that, uh- Cold glue class on Saturday morning, right? Little bit of classroom and then hands-on on a live car. I cannot wait for that to happen. Um, working through the details of our soft skills class. Uh, that is probably going to be mid to late October. Uh, working on finalizing some details there.
And I think that's it. Oh, if you want coaching, reach out. We're starting to coach. I'm gonna have to get a coach hat. I'm gonna start wearing a coach hat. That's what I need to do. All right. Noted. Go find coach hat. Guys, thanks so much for listening. Uh, as always, I truly appreciate [00:31:00] you. If you have not liked our Facebook, go to Facebook and like it, @DentRepairNOW.
Uh, please really interact with, um, all of our social media. We really appreciate it. We love all the comments, uh, that we're getting on all the, the stuff we're putting out. Uh, again, I really feel like we're getting some great traction. Until next week, I'll see you.
