August 27, 2025 - 00:47:46

Show Summary:

Josh Langstaff’s journey from chef to diesel shop owner is one of resilience, grit, and growth. Starting out with a single used service truck, he built Mach 6 in Edmonton through long days, lean operations, and lessons learned the hard way. In this conversation with Wayne Marshall and Jimmy Lea, Josh shares the realities of launching a business on credit cards, the transition from mobile trucks to a full facility, and the financial wake-up call that led him to coaching with The Institute. Together they reflect on the importance of parts and labor margins, building leadership, and creating systems that protect profitability even during tough months. Josh also talks about investing in apprentices, his future expansion plans, and the mindset shift from working harder to working smarter. His story is a powerful example of persistence, strategic coaching, and how the right support can accelerate success.

Host(s):

Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development

Wayne Marshall, Industry Coach

Guest(s):

Josh Langstaff, Managing Director of Mach 6

Episode Highlights:

[00:03:25] - Josh shares his early career as a chef and how it inspired a drastic career change.

[00:05:02] - A poor experience with a previous employer gave him the confidence to start his own business.

[00:06:49] - Landing Canadian National Railway as a first big client nearly sank him due to 90-day payment terms.

[00:08:08] - Starting with one beaten-up truck, Josh scaled to three mobile units before moving into a shop.

[00:12:52] - Discovering Cecil Bullard’s training videos led him to The Institute and real profit solutions.

[00:14:15] - The biggest shift came from correcting parts margins and labor utilization.

[00:19:04] - Josh outlines plans for a second shop in Edmonton and future expansion across Canada.

[00:23:26] - Coaching provided strategies that gave the business stability to weather crises like fraud losses.

[00:33:31] - Josh emphasizes apprenticeships as key to solving the technician shortage.

[00:40:27] - His early struggles with credit cards turned into lessons on financial discipline and perseverance.

👉 Unlock the full experience - watch the full webinar on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arbX9C6hnmM

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Episode Transcript Disclaimer

Episode Transcript:

Jimmy Lea: Hello my friends. It's good to see you. My name is Jimmy Lee. I'm with the Institute. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, or goodnight, depending on when and where you're joining us from today. So depending on where you are in your journey, we are here to take it to the next level. Joining me today is Wayne Marshall.

Jimmy Lea: Wayne is the CEO of the Institute. He is also the coach of our guests. Wayne. Thank you. Good morning.

Wayne Marshall: Thank you. This is gonna be fun 'cause Josh has got a really great story. It's a little eclectic when you hear and as he will share a little bit of his background and how he got into this industry, some of the things that he has been doing that's got him to where he is today, along with some of his aspirations and goals and ambitions of where he wants to go.

Wayne Marshall: Great things that he's been able to do, great things I know he is gonna be able to share and some of the challenges that he's gone through. We've all gone through, we've all experienced them. So it's gonna be really nice that he can share and know that, hey, you're not alone in this adventure, in this journey.

Wayne Marshall: There's people like Josh out there who have also been experiencing it. So why do it alone when you can learn and listen from others And as I always say, it's better to learn from others and try to recreate from scratch. So this is that opportunity we have, and I see that Josh is now joining us, so this is awesome.

Wayne Marshall: Oh, good. Josh, how are you brother? Good to see you.

Josh Langstaff: Good, Jimmy. Hey, how you doing?

Jimmy Lea: Hey, we're good. Welcome. Thank you for navigating those internet challenges.

Josh Langstaff: Yeah, there's always technical difficulties, right?

Jimmy Lea: Oh yeah. There can be. Technology is great and it's wonderful as long as it works, but when it throws a challenge at us, oh my gosh, it can be challenging.

Josh Langstaff: It only goes wrong when I do it myself.

Jimmy Lea: Right, right. Yeah Wayne was just talking about examples and it made me think of something Wayne that my father has said quite a few times, which is that everyone is a good example. Oh, really? Dad? I thought there were bad examples. No. Everyone is a good example.

Jimmy Lea: Everyone's a good example of what you should do, or everyone's a good example of what you. Shouldn't do words thinking of that. Well, it always rings true.

Wayne Marshall: Well, Josh, thank you again for taking this time and your willingness to share not only with what we've been doing here, but what we can share with our other friends and family and clients who are out there listening to us this morning or maybe in the afternoon, depending on what time zone they're in, but to begin with.

Wayne Marshall: I know you and I have talked a lot and you've shared a lot of your journey that's gotten you to this place. But I would love for everybody to hear a little bit of how you got started, share a little bit about your background what you were doing before. 'cause I think it's a great story, but what you were doing before you decided to get into being a diesel tech that ultimately drove you to having your own shop up there in Edmonton.

Josh Langstaff: For sure. Yeah, so I used to be a chef and it was a good job. I did it for about 10 or 12 years, but the pay wasn't exactly wonderful and the hours and lifestyle left a bit to be desired. So after I was getting to the tail end of that, you know, kind of picked up some bad habits, was running with the wrong people and decided it was time to make a change, figured I would try either mechanic or electrician.

Josh Langstaff: And then I just went out and started handing out resumes. I must have dropped off 300 of them too. To get a call back and I ended up getting called to be a shipper receiver, not even a mechanic. So that was sort of the foot in the door as they say. But after I did that for a bit, got the apprenticeship, which over here we do four years of schooling supported by a company.

Josh Langstaff: So you'll work 10 months and then they give you two months at your post-secondary institution, and you do that four years in a row. But got set up with that, got my ticket, and then went and worked for a small service outfit doing something similar to what we do right now. And this guy was running what might have been.

Josh Langstaff: The worst business on planet Earth. Just customers didn't like 'em. You wouldn't buy products, wouldn't buy filters unless they were on sale. So you'd go to do a service call and you have to tell the customer, we don't have any of this stuff ready. The whole place was a gong show. I kind of inspired me.

Josh Langstaff: I said, well, if this guy can run a business, anybody can run a business. So that's what got me going. And man, was I wrong, but I mean, the inspiration was there.

Wayne Marshall: Yeah. So you started and I get everything and I think it's awesome story how you went from being a sous chef to a diesel tech to ultimately running your own shop.

Wayne Marshall: So tell everybody a little bit more. So what year did you start Mach six.

Josh Langstaff: Mach Six. We started in 2017. Yeah. November of 2017.

Wayne Marshall: And in that time period from when you started, what were some of the biggest hurdles that you had to get over to get started from being a tech, working for someone to now being the owner, the guy that has to be responsible for everybody else?

Josh Langstaff: Well, there is a ton of stuff that happens in the backend that you certainly don't know about as a technician. So I realized all of a sudden I had. Inventory to figure out. I had to source stuff. I had cash flow, I had safety that, you know, wasn't being taken care of by me initially. Planning the jobs, fielding the calls, you know, usually you have a service advisor doing that.

Josh Langstaff: But now I was doing that myself. 'cause just a one man show at that point. Figuring out insurance for your trucks, insurance for the business. Man, there was just. You know, one of the first jobs we picked up was for Canadian National Railway. And I thought, wow, I'm so lucky I have this big client, like tons of work.

Josh Langstaff: What a great start to this business. And then I go in and I realize that CN doesn't pay for 90 days, but I've got a hundred units to take care of. I'm buying filters, I'm buying oil. I've got all this stuff. I've got the credit cards maxed out. I'm borrowing money from the girlfriend and at some point she says to me like, what are we gonna do?

Josh Langstaff: You've used my credit card. Your credit card. There's no cash. I think we're gonna get paid in three or four days, so we'll be okay. But that was kinda the gateway to realizing there's a lot more to manage there than just. The repair side of things. There was so much.

Wayne Marshall: Yeah. And if I remember right you didn't start in a physical building.

Wayne Marshall: You started in mobile trucks, service trucks going out to do the work. Correct? That's right. Yep. So that, so I know there's a lot of people out there who sometimes think the only way you can start doing what you're doing is you gotta start in a building. I gotta have a shop. But you started, and today you still run mobile trucks, but when you started, did you have one or two trucks before you finally got into a physical facility?

Josh Langstaff: Yeah, so we started off with one truck, which coincidentally enough was also a Canadian national rail truck that had got the hell beat out of it, and I fixed that up on my driveway and got that thing running for about, I think we're only into the truck $15,000. And then. I bought all the tools, threw my old tools in the truck, got the filters, the oil, whatever you needed for the jobs, and just got billing.

Josh Langstaff: Just doing that at the time, I mean, we were way, we were undercharging like I was, I think I was charging $90 an hour to guys to show up in a service truck and working 15, 18 hours a day. So we're building lots. Didn't know anything about parts margin, so probably wasn't helping myself there. But we ended up with three trucks before before moving to the actual shop, and at that point it was all outta my garage and I said.

Josh Langstaff: I got three service trucks parked in the neighborhood. The neighbors are probably gonna lose their marbles here soon. So we should look at a location.

Wayne Marshall: Which I think is very inspirational in the aspect of, 'cause I know we have other clients that's how they're starting. I mean, they're starting out with just mobile.

Wayne Marshall: Service. And as their business started to scale, no different what you've done, they then say, now I'm at a point where let's get a, let's get a shop. Let's have a physical building where people can come and go. And I find that to be really inspirational and I like to share, and I've shared your story before, I've told you this as we've talked on coaching because.

Wayne Marshall: It inspires others to say, there's many ways to bootstrap this and to start small scale it. You don't have to go big. 'cause, remind me again, or for everybody else also out here. How many years did you do that with the mobile before you finally went to a physical building?

Josh Langstaff: Oh gee, it was only two or three.

Josh Langstaff: And actually we were making, I mean, we were making very good money run and lean like that. Because we had, you know, no shop space we were paying for, we were buying the trucks fairly economically, and it was just me and another guy at the time. I think we picked up a third and just a lady in the office helping us.

Josh Langstaff: So costs were really low. And then you get the shop and we need more people, we need a parts guy. We had a spike in cost there. So yeah, there's a bit of a runway where you're. You're making the same profit as you were run and lean with five extra guys, or you know, more staff, big shop. So, I mean, there's pros and cons to both

Wayne Marshall: sides.

Wayne Marshall: So as you began to scale and as you started to get bigger, you now have a facility, a shop with multiple bays. You're still running the service trucks, so you're still doing the mobile. I know there got to a point and we talked about it, and you started to look for some of those outside resources and assistance.

Wayne Marshall: So as you started to look. What got you and what got you to the institute? Was there something that you saw, read an article? Did you go to a seminar? Tell us a little bit about how you got in and connected with us here at the institute.

Josh Langstaff: Yeah, so I. We had a few years that weren't very profitable, and I knew I had, you know, I had a problem going on with the business, but I wasn't entirely sure what it was.

Josh Langstaff: I mean, we're not making enough money. That was the problem. But what was causing it, I guess? And, I started trying to figure out what industry standard margins were for a setup such as ourself and didn't really know who I could ask that to. Didn't know a ton of shop owners or anything like that.

Josh Langstaff: You know, anyone in our area, if we ask them it's gonna be competition probably so.

Josh Langstaff: That's not you know, they're not always willing to share the info and someone who picks up at another shop is generally gonna be a service manager and they might not know all that info. But I started Googling it, looking around, found a few videos.

Josh Langstaff: One of them happened to be Cecil, and he was talking about getting to net 20% profit and what your margins should be. And I was looking at it thinking, well, it's automotive, but it can't be that different. So watched his video thought, wow, this is a pretty smart guy. And then I watched a few more videos and said, okay.

Josh Langstaff: This could be a good thing here, like a lot of wisdom popping out at me. So then I just ended up calling and asking you guys, do you do heavy duty as well as automotive? And it was funny, the conversation sort of went well. Let me see. I think I actually got a check on this. I'll call you back and I think whoever I talked to at the time must have talked to Cecil and then called me back.

Josh Langstaff: And that was sort of the beginning of it all. And yeah, learned a lot. You guys had a lot of good info, answered all my questions, and you know, we started being more profitable.

Wayne Marshall: So I know I was the lucky. I guess I drew the long straw. Short straw, but you and I got to work together. Straw. Yeah, I got the straw.

Wayne Marshall: And you and I got to start working together right outta the box. And I remember I. And in prep for today, I even went back and I read some of my early notes from some of our very first calls and some of the challenges and some of the things that we had to do. When you think back and you just talked about what you were needing to do for the business and some of the struggles and why we ended up getting connected as we've done, what was the best advice?

Wayne Marshall: What was the best thing that we were able to give you that got us started on the right direction with where we are today?

Josh Langstaff: Honestly go after parts margins. I think we were hurting ourselves worse there than anywhere else. I mean, on the service side of things, we had a lot of stuff figured out and that's what I did before, you know, running the shop.

Josh Langstaff: So I knew how that side worked. But yeah, that followed by just making sure we get our labor margins and the efficiencies and, you know, the utilizations you need.

Wayne Marshall: I would agree. That was the very first thing when I looked at the very early financial statements and we were looking at some of the different metrics.

Wayne Marshall: Yeah, there was no question. We did change your labor rate. Some We fine tuned, updated your parts markup matrix, which immediately. Started to, within 60 days, we were starting to see some great results and movement forward. Now obviously we've spent a lot more time and we've taken deeper dives into the nuances of the business that has now make it more perpetual, I guess, and it just kind of takes care of itself and it's like I, you know, I've already complimented you. I mean, we looked at one of your p and Ls and yeah, there were some things that needed to be corrected, and I asked you, I go, well, Josh, tell me, what do you think we need to do here? It was like, I don't even know why we were talking that day. You answered everything that needed to be done.

Wayne Marshall: You already got it all figured out after the six months of working together that I thought it was awesome. You had the answers, you know what we need to do. And then it's a matter of going in and fine tuning again and continuing to work on those different fine, you know, smaller detail things that makes a difference to the bottom line and moves it.

Wayne Marshall: One of the other things though, I know. Which we're happy to have you involved in is that as we started out on one-on-one coaching, you've also found and taken advantage of some other of the services and other things that we're doing here at the institute. Talk a little bit about some of the other things that you have gained out of, 'cause I know you've attended some of our different events and you're also involved in some of our other programs.

Wayne Marshall: So just tell me what's been happening with that and how you're taking advantage and what it's doing for you.

Josh Langstaff: Yeah, well you got the I mean that learning dashboard on the website's. Awesome. There's lots of good info there that you can just self-study whenever you feel like it and broaden your horizons.

Josh Langstaff: But I went to the, I went to the 2025 summit. That was great. Met a ton of people. There was like good vendors there that we've actually utilized a few of now, and lots of good knowledge being shared. Lots of good contacts in general. Like there's still people I'm calling with questions and we're sharing info, other shop owners.

Josh Langstaff: So that was great. Dabbled in the m and a thing a bit and just kind of got the introduction to that, seeing what it was all about. So that seems like a great opportunity of, you know, once we get this shop running perfectly the way we want it to, then you can start looking at other opportunities buying other shops.

Josh Langstaff: Expand the brand. So that looks pretty good starting GPG soon as you know. And yeah, that seems like a good group of guys. I'm not sure entirely what it's gonna be, but you know, seems like they're gonna keep me honest.

Wayne Marshall: Well, the one thing I would, the one thing I would say to all of it is.

Wayne Marshall: And thank you for the compliment of our other clients and other people who are part of the family here at the institute, because just as you've reached out to them I've know I've put you in touch with some of our other folks and you've helped them on the other side. So that's what makes this industry better.

Wayne Marshall: That's what really grows this, that's what I get the most excited about. Of working here and being part of the institute. It's not what we just do for Josh, but it's what else we're doing for others and things that you're even able to help them with. So being able to be part of that family and network back and forth and share like we do and like you have done.

Wayne Marshall: Thank you, because just as you've benefited from it, you're paying it forward also. And that's what's gonna continue to make us successful, and it's gonna continue to make the industry better, which is part of our, you know, the virtues or mottos that we wanna live by, is to create a better industry. So you talked a little bit about m and a.

Wayne Marshall: Talk a little bit about where you're looking, what's next? What do you think the next big thing is for Josh and Mach? Six?

Josh Langstaff: Is the limit, but yeah, like we wanna open a second shop here in Edmonton in the next six months. We just hired an operations manager about a month ago and he's doing good. So we wanna give him some time to get his feet wet here.

Josh Langstaff: And then if all goes well, put our second shop pilot program into play here. I guess stress, test that and see what goes wrong and figure that out. And then if we can get a handle on two, then start expanding out east and west here in Canada.

Wayne Marshall: Do you think as you look, 'cause we've talked and we've put together kind of a big picture draft of that business plan.

Wayne Marshall: Do you think it's better or are you looking to buy existing, or is your preference maybe to start from ground up and make it what you want it to be? Do you have a preference here?

Josh Langstaff: I have a preference to buy an existing business, but I don't know if we'll have the. The opportunity of available shops for that.

Josh Langstaff: You know, looking around town currently most of the people I've talked to are investigated. They have a succession plan, they wanna stay in their business or you know, the ones that are potentially available don't seem like good options. So it's kinda slim pickings in the acquisition department.

Josh Langstaff: Might have to just, you know, build from the ground up for a few. And wait for that

Wayne Marshall: opportunity. Right. I know you came and you mentioned earlier about attending being part of the m and a group that we had here about two months plus ago. Was that really helpful for you as you've looked at this, when you look at scaling and as you've gone to approach some of those existing businesses?

Josh Langstaff: Definitely even. I mean, I went to just kind of an introductory, this is what the M and a program will entail. So not even, you know, you're just getting some basic info. And there was a ton of info, like a ton, two days worth of info that gave me all kinds of. I don't know, stuff I needed to just plan the next steps.

Josh Langstaff: So talking to a few lawyers in town, making sure I got the right legal guys in our corner. When we go to do this, talking to some accountants that I've experienced with this, just kind of putting together a timeline for it, what it's gonna cost, who we have to hire, what it looks like. There's a lot of questions to answer if you wanna do it.

Josh Langstaff: So just right. Just being made aware of those questions was was a pretty good experience. A lot

Wayne Marshall: helped. Yeah, no, I know. You and I taught, we've talked a lot extensively of having the right professional advisors. And not that there aren't many good accountants or attorneys out there, but like anything else, some have a niche.

Wayne Marshall: Just like in our industry, there are those who specialize in this or this. Just like we get in some of those professional services. So yeah, I mean, finding those people, getting them into your corner so they're there for reference as needed. Along with, and thank you for talking a little bit about the m and a program, we also do, but it is, it's a lot of good foundational information that gives us those tools needed so when the time comes or the opportunity presents itself.

Wayne Marshall: That you do it efficiently. 'cause you know, attorneys and you know, and other professional services can get really expensive fast. So having that foundation and knowing what questions to ask and how to address. It really does make a difference and puts you in the best position for success. So yeah. As you look back now, so you're, you know, like I said, you're eight years in Give Fast approach in your eight year anniversary of when you started in 2017, in November.

Wayne Marshall: As you look back, if you could share a few pieces of advice with somebody. What do you wish you knew sooner as a business owner that you would share with others? Starting out? Get

Josh Langstaff: help. I wish I knew so many things sooner, but the biggest one was I'm, I was always very much, if you put your mind to it, you can just do it.

Josh Langstaff: You don't need any help. If you just get after it, like you can make it happen, which I still believe you can, but man, getting some good advice from someone who's already been there before can really grease the wheels and speed up that process.

Wayne Marshall: Yeah, I know and I've had the privilege, and not to go into your private details of, but I know you're still on pace to have one of, if not the best year in the history of the company this year.

Wayne Marshall: And I also know that with that. We've been able to do a lot of great things together that is allowing you to also have one of your best profit years, if not the best profit years also. So, and I know that's not because of what we've done, it's because of what you have done and, you know, we can share and we can coach, but at the end of the day.

Wayne Marshall: It comes down to you. I mean, it comes down to what you're gonna do. So with that, talk a little bit about how much has this helped and what has transpired in your growth? Not only personally, but professionally through this process of the last seven, eight months of us working together.

Josh Langstaff: Yeah, big a big part of it is just.

Josh Langstaff: As we develop like these strategies and improve margins and stuff, you know, if we have a bad month in service and parts isn't sinking the ship, we still end up with an okay month, you know? So defensively like we're in a lot better position. Having all that extra profit over the year, you know, things come up around a big shop like this and I mean, we had that incident of credit card fraud there the one month, which was I think a $20,000.

Josh Langstaff: Credit card fraud. And that would've, I mean, that would've been such a tough blow to us back when things were tight, you know, margins weren't as good. So, you know, we could weather that storm, develop new procedures. So just doing all this, giving us the staying power, you know, to. To survive a few of these issues that come up in business.

Josh Langstaff: That's a big one. And then a lot of leadership and just kinda how to give people the freedom they need and make sure that you're assigning them their tasks and they want to do them and they know clearly what they are. So you can follow up and say, you know, you understood this, what happened here?

Josh Langstaff: They get coached, sort of like you were coaching me, right? They start being the one that says, yes, I know this, and this happened. Next month we'll have a better month. But like I can see where we went wrong. It's accountability.

Wayne Marshall: I know. Yeah. We talk about that a lot. You and I. Yeah, no it is, and I can see the difference it's making in you as a leader and a manager of the company and how it is trickling down.

Wayne Marshall: Because I do know you've got some of your other staff involved with our advisor program and I listened to those who are working with, who are saying great things. I mean, their growth and their understanding. And how that's going to, and only continue to create that alignment of what your culture is and what you're trying to get done.

Wayne Marshall: That the bar of expectation is being set for people and they understand where they gotta rise up to. And it all makes a difference 'cause you got everybody really pulling in the same direction now. And even with your new GM that you've hired. Yeah. Having the opportunity to meet and visit with him also.

Wayne Marshall: I compliment you. You've done some yeoman's work in these last seven, eight months to put you in a position that you're in, so. Good job. Thank you. As we think about all this, and I'm thinking now of all the things you've learned, and it comes back to what advice you would share. I mean, if there are three or more key things that you try to do every week or every other week that keeps you focused and grounded on what those key metrics are or key things that drives your business.

Wayne Marshall: What would those be? What would you share with the rest of the people?

Josh Langstaff: Well definitely control your costs. That's a big one. You know, you can make all the profit you want or all the revenue you want, but if you spend it all, you know, you're gonna have a problem. Definitely. The Outlook calendar or whatever you use is your best friend because as things start getting busier and busier, you know, you're just gonna lose track of everything if you don't have a way to keep that schedule going and make sure you're making your meetings and not disappointing people.

Josh Langstaff: That's a pretty important one. And then really just day to day the basics, you know, every day, making sure. The efficiency is good. Checking on the utilization, checking that customers are getting the calls back and reauthorizing work if we have it. You know, there's a few small things that if you just do 'em all the time, you can prevent giving away tens of thousands of dollars a month in service related work that you didn't charge for.

Wayne Marshall: Right, right. Yeah. Keeping it simple as they say, and yeah, it sounds so easy. In some ways it is, but it isn't it's about focus and discipline and the diligence. To do it, as you just said, to keep doing it on a regular basis because it's easy to let one week turn into two or three, and then all of a sudden you look at certain KPIs or metrics and you're going, oh, didn't know that happened, or, we gotta fix this.

Wayne Marshall: And next thing you know, you've lost or left money on the table. That we just didn't need to leave on the table. So, that's the

Josh Langstaff: death of a thousand cuts.

Wayne Marshall: Death of a thousand cuts is very true. You pretty much covered a lot of the questions, Jimmy. I don't know, has anybody offered up a question and from out in the internet land or do you have something.

Wayne Marshall: Oh, man I, yes,

Jimmy Lea: I have questions. Josh, thank you so much. I appreciate your story. Appreciate where you've come from and what you're doing. My question for you is here we are in automotive repair, automotive service, coaching and training business. How similar is it to the diesel?

Josh Langstaff: Very similar.

Josh Langstaff: Yeah. Some of the margins are a little different, but I mean, it's all nuts and bolts, right?

Jimmy Lea: Right. It's nuts and bolts. It's services, it's filters, it's fluids. It's very similar. It's just happens to be a diesel truck, not a gas burner.

Josh Langstaff: Yep. I think automotive has a better handle on, customer service and communication, though as heavy duty, we're used to dealing primarily with fleets and like business to business sort of things.

Josh Langstaff: And when you're dealing with the general public instead of that, I just feel like you have so many more people interacting with you and they expect a certain level of service, and it seems to be higher than what fleets expect.

Jimmy Lea: Yes I would agree with you. Are you expanding from fleets into a more broad range passenger vehicle?

Jimmy Lea: Guys with big trucks you're taking care of their big trucks or girls with big trucks, you're taking care of their big diesel trucks.

Josh Langstaff: We do a bit of that, but primarily on the fleet side. So if you're bringing us your construction equipment, but you also have a fleet of pickup trucks, we'll throw it in there as added value so you can call one, one location.

Josh Langstaff: Oh wow. But I mean, the biggest thing we noticed with that is just the software is available to the fleets. Like we're moving into using protractor now, and the stuff it can do on the CRM side is just. Blows what we're currently using outta the water, so

Jimmy Lea: Oh yeah. Texting your clients, texting your customers, sending them digital inspections.

Jimmy Lea: Are you doing DDIs yet?

Josh Langstaff: We're just setting it up actually. Yeah, that's gonna be with AutoVitals. So we already do something similar, but it doesn't have the really nice format and the pictures of everything and yeah, just that goes such a long ways, especially when you're explaining the work to people.

Josh Langstaff: Why they gotta do it. Some fleet managers aren't actually mechanically, like they don't have a background like that. They're, they could be an accountant or something. So

Jimmy Lea: yeah, but even an accountant knows items on a vehicle that are worn, torn, freight, or broken. They can see that. And if you show it, circle it, point arrows to it, say, Hey, this is the problem area right here.

Jimmy Lea: They're educated and because they're educated, I think they make better decisions that really help to keep the vehicles safe on the road, whether it's a fleet vehicle or a personal vehicle.

Josh Langstaff: Definitely. I feel like when people don't get a good explanation, that's when they start feeling like maybe they're getting taken advantage of or they get a little less trustworthy because, I mean, our industry doesn't have the best reputation to begin with.

Jimmy Lea: What. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, so I have a question for you, Josh. If you had a magic wand, a unicorn horn, whatever it may be, that magic wand that you could wave, what would you change about the industry?

Josh Langstaff: I would go back 20 years in time and tell all the kids that we told to get degrees instead of trades tickets, to get trades tickets.

Josh Langstaff: So we actually have some journeymen.

Wayne Marshall: Yeah, so true. Everybody needs tax. Everybody needs, yeah. Tax. That's, there's a lot of people

Josh Langstaff: moving into it.

Wayne Marshall: Yes. Now there

Josh Langstaff: is.

Wayne Marshall: Yes. Yes. Talk talk real quick, Josh, because I know because you're in Canada, they do have a tech training program and there's some compensation reimbursement, and as a company you're embracing some of that with the local entities and the government.

Wayne Marshall: Talk a little bit about the program and what you're doing and giving back to the industry that way.

Josh Langstaff: Yeah, so there's a few different programs they do. The young one. So they'll have something called a registered apprentice program, which is kids from high school. They want to become a tradesman of some sort.

Josh Langstaff: So they'll get credit towards their first year of the apprenticeship here, which is what's your guys' training? A SE, is that correct?

Wayne Marshall: Yes.

Josh Langstaff: Yeah. So we have four years. It's kind of run by the government and structured by the government with input from private. Private operators, but they'll get credit towards their first year of that.

Josh Langstaff: And then when they start in the private sector or at a shop, you know, there'll be a second year instead of starting from scratch and already have a little experience. So companies such as ours can get approached by, you know, facilitators for this, saying, Hey, we have a bunch of students who want to get into the trade.

Josh Langstaff: They're 17, 18 years old, still in school. They can come in here, work for us for I think minimum wage is what they start 'em at, and then the government gives you a grant towards that as well, cutting them down by 20%, 25% of that wage. So that's a good opportunity. I mean, you don't you don't make any money off these kids or anything like that.

Josh Langstaff: It's strictly to invest in the future for both you and them. Right? Because even at. Let's say $12 an hour. They are, they're breaking some things.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah, they break. Yeah. Yeah. They'll probably break things, but hopefully you can get 'em set up to where even at $12 an hour they're doing some mobile oil filters or some breaks or something that really helps them feel like they're a contributing factor.

Jimmy Lea: I've talked to a few other automotive service industry shops. That brought in an apprentice and just from day one they, they were working half a day and they're at school half a day. So on that half day that they're working, they're still getting 4, 5, 6 hours out of these apprentice. They've got a mentor that's watching over them and helping them.

Jimmy Lea: Is that similar to what you're doing in Canada there, Josh?

Josh Langstaff: Yeah, it's very similar. We've we've talked with like the apprenticeship board here and some of the secondary schooling providers and also some other companies running these guys. So we've tried to build our own formal training program for them.

Josh Langstaff: That way we can document everything and make sure it's structured, but at the same time, you know, just getting these kids early like this, yeah, we have to put in more effort to train them, but. When you get guys from other shops, they've already picked up a lot of these bad habits. And if we're talking about being the top one or 5% of the industry here, then why am I asking the other 95% to train my guys when I want 'em?

Josh Langstaff: Train like the top one or 5%. Yep. To train 'em here?

Jimmy Lea: Yeah, grow 'em in house. That's what you're gonna do. You currently have

Wayne Marshall: two or three? I think you had two or three you said in the program, correct. Or where are you at? We got

Josh Langstaff: two. We got two right now. Yeah. And then we've got a whole shop full of apprentices in the actual, like our a SE program.

Josh Langstaff: So right now we're trying to find another journeyman. And that's really the hardest part right now is finding these ticketed guys because we got, we've got apprentices and young kids banging on the door constantly wanting to learn. We just, you know, don't have enough guys to train them.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah. It does take a certain mindset for a good trainer to step up and be a trainer.

Jimmy Lea: Your best salesman doesn't make the best sales manager. Your best technician doesn't make a tech trainer either.

Josh Langstaff: Well, they only have so much capacity too. Like if you wanna train them right, maybe you can take on two apprentices and still do your day job.

Jimmy Lea: Oh, that's phenomenal. That's phenomenal.

Jimmy Lea: Josh your journey is amazing. It's awesome. Congratulations. I love hearing where you've come from and where you're going. It is just so inspiring. And you know, we've got the a hundred thousand net club, the 200,000 net profit club, the 300,000 net profit club, 400, $701 million net profit club. I hope to see you in there.

Josh Langstaff: Yep. I should be in there somewhere, but I was hoping to be a lot farther by now.

Wayne Marshall: Well, you've got the right, you've made great strides. You've made great strides, but I love that you're driven the way you are. This is what makes it fun.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah, it is. That's what makes it fun. It is fun and you know, we can coach, we can train, we can teach as much as we want.

Jimmy Lea: But are you going to implement it? And Josh, you have not only implemented it, you've expected and wanted more. And the teacher is as prepared as the student is willing to learn. So the more you're coming back saying, okay, I did all these things. I did everything you said. Now what's next? Give me a longer list because I'm ready.

Jimmy Lea: I love it. Yeah, there's always

Josh Langstaff: more to do.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah, there is. So, quick questions. I wanna circle back to you and your girlfriend. Your credit cards are maxed out. You're getting net 90 from Canada. Is everybody paid off now? Are you good? Oh, yeah.

Speaker 4: Yeah.

Josh Langstaff: Everybody was paid off about four or five days after that conversation, but man, it was stressful.

Wayne Marshall: Yeah, well, the real beauty of it is girlfriend is now wife with two kids, and a lot of other great things going on.

Jimmy Lea: Oh, congratulations brother. That's awesome. So she was a keeper. We

Wayne Marshall: decided to keep her around. She was a

Josh Langstaff: keeper after that.

Jimmy Lea: Oh yeah, for sure.

Josh Langstaff: Yeah, I mean, she was probably pretty stressed out there too.

Josh Langstaff: 'cause takes a lot of trust to let someone use your credit card for $20,000 when you know, that's all your $20,000.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. And it's all tied up. It's all tied up right there. I just applaud you for being able to stretch it, make it work, make it happen. Persist four or five days, you got the paycheck and things were paid off.

Jimmy Lea: Congratulations, Josh. That is phenomenal. Thank you. Thank you.

Josh Langstaff: And try to avoid running your business on a credit card.

Wayne Marshall: Yeah, that's true. More words of advice, man. We've gotten so many words of advice. Yeah. Don't run your business on a credit card.

Jimmy Lea: That interest is Steve. Yeah, it sure is. Sure is.

Jimmy Lea: I love it. Love it. I love it as well. Wayne, thank you very much. Appreciate the interview with Josh. Josh, thank you very much for the interview with Wayne. Really appreciate it. Yes. Let's land this plane, Wayne, with your last bit of advice. You've now got the magic wand. What would you change in the industry

Josh Langstaff: besides the going back in time for technicians?

Josh Langstaff: I think I would also change just how we're training people and. Bring it up to more modern standards. I know that here, the education being all government regulated and stuff is a little dated by the time the apprentices get in there,

Jimmy Lea: so Oh, wow.

Wayne Marshall: Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. Wayne, final thing I would share, every time we end up talking, I'll ask questions to Josh or other of our coaching clients, and I'll say, so as you look at this now.

Wayne Marshall: You knew three months ago, six months ago, you should have done X, Y, or Z. And the one thing that Josh has already admitted to me and others admit is, you know what? I should have done what I'm doing today. Earlier. We all know it's about, you know, it again, it making those hard calls, making those hard decisions because like Josh knows.

Wayne Marshall: It. It's challenging and living off a credit card to start your business. I mean, people have done it before, but it's hard. So we all know what we need to do. Just go back and look and tell yourself as you look back. You know what? Take advantage of it. Do it when you can. You know what you need to do. Put your words into action because we keep saying, tomorrow I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this tomorrow.

Wayne Marshall: Never gets here. Gotta work on today. And you gotta come up with something and just, even if it's a little thing, do the little thing. And that's why I like what we talked about earlier and what Josh said about stay with the basics. If we stay focused and we do those things and we do it with consistency, excuse me, we will.

Wayne Marshall: Have success. So Josh, thank you. Much love working with you. We're gonna continue to build on this 'cause they're better and bigger days in front. And yes, as he sat at the summit, I remember you told me then at the big awards dinner and they're giving out awards for people at this number and net, and you said.

Wayne Marshall: I'm gonna be there. I'm gonna hit this and I'm gonna hit that. And you're doing it. Yeah. You're not everywhere you want to be, but I'm driven just like you are. But you're doing it and you're gonna get into that club 'cause you're already there and be on, you'll be one of those top guys. You're on track.

Josh Langstaff: It's also a sprint, not a marathon. So just keep going. Some days

Wayne Marshall: it's, some days it's,

Josh Langstaff: or sorry, a marathon, not a sprint.

Wayne Marshall: Yeah. Just flipped out a little bit.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah. Some days it's a

Wayne Marshall: sprint though, too. Some days. Yeah.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Josh you spoke about something here a minute ago. You thought that if you just tuck your head down and go to work and just work, then it will work itself out.

Jimmy Lea: And that doesn't always happen. It doesn't always happen that way because you may be building a trail and knocking down rainforest and you may be going this direction, building a highway, and you're making good headway. And then some of the time here comes a coach that says, Hey, you know what you're going the wrong way.

Jimmy Lea: You, you're supposed to be going that way. Oh, but we're making great headway. We're getting so much done. But you're going the wrong way. We need to go that way. You hired a coach, you hired a trainer, you hired somebody that is gonna be able to look at that work and say, okay, you work really well, but let's go this way.

Josh Langstaff: Yeah, let's channel that energy in the right direction.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. Josh, congratulations. Thank you very much, Wayne. Thank you very much. Appreciate you guys being here, and those of you who are watching this on the recording or watching live, if any of this has resonated with you as, oh my gosh.

Jimmy Lea: My shop is in this situation. I have these area areas I want to improve. I have these areas I need to look at. I'm maxed out on my credit cards. I'm maxed out on everything, but I'm not making the headway that I wanna make. You need a coach. Look at every professional athlete. They all have coaches. In fact, they have multiple coaches.

Jimmy Lea: So if you are in this industry, whether you're working on gas vehicles electric vehicles, diesel vehicles, any vehicle that is involved in transportation, come check out the institute. Check out what we're doing here. 'cause it's awesome. It's amazing. It's making a difference in so many different people's lives.

Jimmy Lea: Our motto is better business, better life, better industry. That's what we're here to help you do as well. Create a better business for you. It'll change your life. It'll change your spouse's life. It'll change your partner's life. It'll change your employee's life. As we all lock arms together, we're gonna help elevate and build a better industry for everybody.

Jimmy Lea: My name is Jimmy Lee with the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence. Excited to be here with you today. I hope you learn something today. What nuggets did you take from this conversation? Let me know. Reach out. Love to talk to you real soon. Thank you. See you next week.