Maximum Octane

Plenty of shop owners walk in with a big heart and walk out with a struggling business, convinced that charging fairly and taking care of people are opposites. This episode breaks that myth down piece by piece, showing what it actually looks like to run a generous shop that's also a profitable one. In this episode of Maximum Octane, Kim Hickey and Jason Patel sit down with David Wostarek , owner o...

Most shop owners complain about finding technicians but do nothing to fix it. They ask, "Do you have ten fingers?" Get a yes, and hire them tomorrow. No interview, no vetting, no onboarding. Just panic. Lisa Coyle heard this enough times to build a solution. She created Promotive to bring a professional recruiting process to shops too busy fighting fires to build one themselves. In this episode of...

Ninety percent of third-generation businesses fail. It sounds like a doom-and-gloom stat, and it should. But Dan Garlock didn't treat it that way. When his dad said second-generation businesses fail at a super high rate, Dan heard it as a challenge. Now, as he prepares his two sons, Noah and Luke, to potentially take over Silver Lake Auto and Tire Centers, he's facing those same odds again. The di...

Your team reads your body language before they hear your words. A bad morning, a lost deal, traffic on the way to work. It takes one thing to set the tone for the entire day, and suddenly your frustration becomes your team's problem. Sam Richter learned long ago that the moment you step on stage, none of that matters. You flip a switch. Most shop owners never figure out how to flip that switch, wh...

Shop owners know Q1 is slow. So they wait until December to panic and throw money at ads, which is the exact opposite of what works. While most shops treat marketing like an emergency room visit, the ones pulling ahead are treating it like preventive care. They market 365 days a year, plan quarterly trends a year in advance, and understand that your customers' decision-making happens months before...

There are four core aspects of business development in auto repair: in-person, email, phone, and social selling. In-person relationships will always matter most, but they only scale so far. Harris Fanaroff , founder and CEO of Linked Revenue, explains that shops lean on email because it is easy, avoid cold calls because they are uncomfortable, and dismiss LinkedIn because it feels difficult to mas...

Most shop owners think their hiring problem is a technician shortage. According to Matthew Strom , founder of AutoShop Media , the real issue is visibility, messaging, and how shops present themselves in a crowded market. In this episode of Maximum Octane, Jason Patel sits down with Matthew to unpack what is actually working in automotive marketing and technician recruitment right now. Matthew sha...

Most shop owners do not fail at marketing because they lack effort. They fail because their efforts have no clear purpose behind them. According to Carrie-Lynn Rodenberg , CEO and founder of Turnkey Marketing , effective marketing is not about doing more. It is about doing the right things with intent, strategy, and a measurable goal. In this episode of Maximum Octane, Kim Hickey and Jason Patel s...

Most shop owners open their doors because they want to fix what was broken in the last place they worked. But once the dust settles, many realize they built themselves a job, not a business. According to Brian Hammond , one of ATI’s newest coaches and a lifelong entrepreneur, real success begins when you stop thinking like a shop owner and start operating like a business owner. In this episode of...

Most shop owners think their biggest challenges are parts, staffing, or car count. According to David Boyd , CEO of Call Inbound, the real problems often hide in places you cannot see: dropped calls, unclear expectations, and communication gaps that quietly drain revenue every single day. In this episode of Maximum Octane, Kim Hickey and Jason Patel sit down with David to unpack the communication...

Most auto shops know they need marketing, but few understand what customers actually base their decisions on. According to Travis Bickham , Chief Commercial Officer at Shopmonkey, the biggest threat to a shop isn’t competition. It is the trust gap between what customers expect and what shops deliver. In this episode of Maximum Octane, Jason Patel and George Zeeks sit down with Travis Bickham to br...

Technology has changed everything about the service advisor role, but it has not replaced the one thing that matters most: people. In this episode of Maximum Octane, Kim Hickey and Jason Patel sit down with Michelle Wood , ATI’s Sales and Service Instructor, to discuss the myths and realities of being a great service advisor in a world of automation, AI, and endless new tools. Michelle shares her...

When leadership breaks down, processes fall apart fast. But rebuilding doesn’t start with systems. It starts with people. In this episode of Maximum Octane, Kim Hickey and Jason Patel sit down with Chris Darmody , General Manager at Graham Auto Repair , to explore what it takes to turn around a struggling organization. When Chris joined the shop, leadership gaps, inconsistent processes, and fading...

Many shop owners know they need marketing, but too often they get stuck thinking about it instead of doing it. Between SEO, social media, websites, and ads, it’s easy to fall into analysis paralysis; spending so much time comparing options that no real progress happens. In this episode of Maximum Octane, Kim Hickey and Jason Patel sit down with Doug Robison , Director of Sales and Partnerships at...

Trigger Warning: This episode contains open and personal discussion about suicide, grief, and mental health. In the automotive industry, we never hesitate to buy the latest equipment or the right tool for the job. But when it comes to our own mental health, too many of us resist using the tools available to help us heal. Therapy, medication, or calling someone for a chat aren’t weaknesses. They ar...

What does it really take to build a business from scratch when you don’t have a roadmap? For Josh Oberlander , the answer has been equal parts grit, trial and error, and the discipline to keep sharpening himself along the way. In this episode of Maximum Octane, Kim Hickey and Jason Patel talk with Josh Oberlander , co-founder and CRO of Detect Auto, about the unconventional path that shaped him as...

What if you could transform every first-time customer into a loyal fan who tells everyone they know about your shop? According to Bruce Nation , owner of Westlake Independent Automotive in Southern California, the key lies in doing digital vehicle inspections (DVIs) right . In this episode of Maximum Octane, Kim Hickey and Jason Patel sit down with Bruce Nation to uncover the overlooked power of D...

What would it take for you to finally let go of the death grip on your business? For Connor Tracy, it took two flaming cars, a smashed customer vehicle, and missing his son’s homecoming photos. In this episode of Maximum Octane, Kim Hickey and Jason Patel sit down with Connor Tracy , Kikui’s Director of Partner Development, for a candid conversation about the art and necessity of delegation. Conno...

What happens when your shop's future depends on more than just hustle? In this episode of Maximum Octane, Kim Hickey and Jason Patel sit down with ATI President Ron Greenman for a masterclass on succession planning, leadership evolution, and building a sustainable future for your business. Ron shares real-life examples from his own unexpected path to leadership and how ATI’s growth exposed the cra...

What if everything you built over decades hinged on just a few key decisions and a whole lot of grit? In this episode of Maximum Octane, hosts Jason Patel and George Zeeks sit down with Gilda Dyckman to hear the incredible journey she and her husband Mike experienced while building and eventually selling a multi-million dollar auto repair business. From taking over a humble muffler shop and growin...

What would happen if you or one of your company’s key leaders suddenly couldn’t come back? In this episode of Maximum Octane, hosts Kim Hickey and Jason Patel sit down with Tony Mercury , Vice President of Operations at Auto Shop Solutions, to talk about the moment his company had to face the unthinkable. When their CEO was suddenly out due to a serious illness, the team had to respond quickly and...

Is your shop's logo doing all the heavy lifting? Spoiler alert: it's not even close. In this episode of Maximum Octane, branding expert and Director of Business Development at Silver Lake Auto, Krista Oldenburg , teams up with Jason Patel to deliver a masterclass on brand strategy, AI-powered marketing, and the real reason customers (and employees) choose your shop over the competition. You'll lea...

How about saving your auto repair shop thousands of dollars a month and offering your customers a faster, smoother checkout experience? And the best part: without touching your rates? In this episode, Kim Hickey and Jason Patel sit down with Dr. Mark Hale , a payments innovator and former QuickBooks CTO, to discuss one of the most overlooked leaks in auto repair shops' profitability: credit card s...

One of your technicians needs a tool and doesn't know where it is. So he goes and asks another, who doesn’t know either, so they go and ask a third tech, who, by the way, also doesn’t know where that tool is. Now you have a group of people roaming around your auto shop, and you're losing money. All this hassle could’ve been avoided with one word: organization. In this episode, Reiny Salmen joins u...

Is it possible to turn constant training into part of your auto shop's culture? In this episode, we explore how to make technicians' development a core part of any auto repair shop culture with Angie and Ken Rocha from Rocha's Automotive. From incentivizing techs to stay engaged with rapidly evolving technology to viewing training as an investment rather than a cost, Angie and Ken have found that...