Episode 222 - Dream, Measure, Do: The Simple Planning Framework Every Shop Owner Needs

Good morning. My name is Rick White from 180 Biz. We're a coaching and training company for the independent auto and truck repair shops. And this is my. Just one thing. But what we're going to talk about today is we're going to talk about planning. And the reason why I'm bringing this up is because I don't know if you can see in the background here, but Brenda and I are back in the Smoky Mountains. We're here in Sevierville in Tennessee. It's right next to Pigeon Forge. And we come out here every year to do our annual planning. So what we're going to talk about today is that planning. And the reason why is because, you know, I was thinking about this last week or the week before, and I said to Shannon, I said, you know, more people put the people put more effort into planning a vacation than they do their business. And it was like, damn, I got to. I got to talk about this. So what I want to talk to you about is a really simple framework on planning, okay? So what I want you to do is recognize that there's three sections to this. So the first part of planning is, number one, dreaming. It's stepping back. Now, we've been doing this annually, and I got a surprise for you. All right? Brenda doesn't know I'm going to say this like she's downstairs right now shaking her head, watching. We have actually talked about starting to do our planning quarterly instead of annually. How cool would that be to be able to take a week every quarter to step back, look at where you're at, and decide where you want to go? Right? That's what planning is about. It's about dreaming. That's really what a plan is, right? It's a dream with some legs to it. That's all there is to it. So what I want you to start with first is dream. That's the first section. Dream about where you want to go. Don't let your current situation dictate where you feel like you could end up. Don't let your location determine your destination, because your destination can be so much better. Don't let your past define you. Let you step back and use it as lessons so that you can get better and better. So that's number one. That's the first section. Dream. Okay, Then you gotta measure. Now, what I recommend doing is, let's say we're gonna plan quarterly. So here, what I want you to do.

In the measuring is we're going to measure daily, weekly, and monthly. Daily. You're going to measure your sales weekly, you're going to measure your gross profit monthly, you're going to measure your net profit, right? It's really simple. Sales, gross profit, net profit. And it gives you a chance when you measure, to step back and don't ask yourself bad questions. Don't ask yourself questions like what? Why do I suck? Why can't I do this? Those aren't gonna help you. Why? Questions don't help make it better. What you've gotta be able to do instead is start to ask what questions or how questions. What can I do better? How can I learn from this? How can I grow from this? What can I improve on? What can I do that I've never done before? These are all questions that you can ask yourself in the process of measuring. Because I need you. Remember that what gets measured gets managed. When you don't measure it, there's no managing it. When you don't measure something, then it's all gut feel, right? And for some of us, that's a pretty big feeling. I'm working on that, though, so I want you to understand. But then here's the really special part of this. This is where the rubber meets the road. Daily you do. Okay? Daily you do. So plan or dream, measure and do. But I want you to step back and I want you to think about how do I want to grow? How do I want my shop to get better? How do I want to make a difference for myself, my family, my team, my community, right? My clients? How do I want to grow and become the very best version of myself? That's the dreaming part. Then you put a plan in action and you measure it. And then you got to remember that it's not magically going to happen. It's amazing how many shops are out there hoping gross profit is going to get slipped under the pillow at the end of the month because they're not doing anything actively to make it happen.

I need you to step back. I need you to see that. Please share this video. If you feel like this is hitting something on you, I'm going to ask you to share this. Okay? Also, I want to talk to you real quick about our shop owners roundtable, second Thursday of every month, 7pm Eastern. And if you want to get more wisdom like this, we have our Pocket Business Genius webinar series. But listen, here we are, beautiful Tennessee. Do you think we're going to work the entire time we're here? No, we're going to sit down. We have a punch list that we're going to put together of things we want to accomplish this week. But we give ourselves time to rest, recharge, reset, and celebrate. We made it another year.

So what are you going to do? So that running your business isn't a reaction. So that you're not constantly just feeling like a victim. I can't find any help. I can't do this. I can't do that. I can't do this. It's because you're in react mode, right? That's what I need you to understand. If you could step back and just say, you know, something. I want to create something. I want to make something so amazing.

Something that I can be proud of, something I can show my kids and my grandkids what's possible when you really put yourself to it. Not living with the can'ts or the shoulds or the. Or all the limitations, but being able to step back. Being able to step back and go, wow, let's create something amazing now. I love this thought process. Okay? And I hope you do, too. Dream, right, Plan. So I guess there's four steps. Dream, plan, right, and then perform. Right. Measure and then do. Right. You got to do it. That's the thing. So we're starting here, right? Let me do this. We're starting here, and then we're funneling it down to where the rubber meets the road. That's the difference. So you do. You measure, you check your plan, and you achieve your dream. Everybody, I hope this helps you out. I have got. Actually, I got two minutes left. We all want to talk about. I think this is pretty cool, this hitting any of you.

How many of you feel like you could plan better? How many of you feel like you know something? I can do better than this? I think that is such, such a cool thing. All right, so what I want you to do is have a great week this week. I want you to rest today. Enjoy. Okay? And then I want you to hit the ground running. We're coming into our fourth quarter. Can you believe that? Coming into the fourth quarter already.

You know, it wasn't that long ago we were talking about all the great things we're going to do in 2025. How are you doing on those? We can't treat our plans like we do our resolutions every year, right? That doesn't work. A plan is a dream. A focused dream with steps and measuring. So I hope this helps you. God bless, everybody. Have a great week. Go make yourself some money. Take care. We'll see you now. Bye. Bye.