That really isn’t a fair comparison at all and actually doesn’t work unless you start looking “outside the box,”…that old, tired cliché. I have mentioned Amazon in past blogs for several reasons: they leverage technology to replace old ways of doing business, they are not afraid to burn money on new ideas that don’t pan out, and they are willing to take risks when they could just sit back and be happy with where they are currently.

Just those three things alone should get your mind thinking about how your auto repair shop compares to Amazon. Do I leverage technology in my shop to replace old ways of doing business? Am I afraid to burn a few dollars on ideas that may or may not pan out? Am I willing to take risks to grow my business even though I am fairly successful right now?

My latest examples of burning through a few dollars on ideas that may or may not pan out were my two failed attempts at creating a telematics program in my shop. Two failures, not just one. Am I going to try a third, fourth, and fifth time? Yes, if need be, but hopefully I will be able to put the mistakes together and make a successful move forward with a good program.

There are lots of industries we could compare ourselves against, and, we should, even when there seems like no connection at all. Does anyone want to talk about comparing our industry against space travel?