Automotive Repair News Today

Braxton Critcher [00:00:05]:
Hello. Brett Faidley. How are you, sir?

Bret Fadley [00:00:07]:
Good. Braxton, how are you, man?

Braxton Critcher [00:00:09]:
I'm good. So I pick you sometimes. Jeff Compton, Jimmy from the Institute. There's a couple others at this point that are wearing jackets like you at industry events. And so you can kind of pick you guys out of a crowd. It's a growing group. I understand.

Bret Fadley [00:00:31]:
It is the idea. I mean, everybody knows Jimmy Lee was known for his jackets.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:37]:
Yes.

Bret Fadley [00:00:37]:
At all the events. So last year when he came to Tools, I told him, I said, you better bring your A game. And he's like, what do you mean? So I was coming with jackets because I knew Lucas would always wear a jacket. Mike Allen would always have a jacket. Jimmy Lee.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:55]:
Yeah. But I'm not talking about just, like, a regular jacket, though.

Bret Fadley [00:00:58]:
I know.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:59]:
Like, this is. Though. This is the good stuff, but.

Bret Fadley [00:01:01]:
So it started there. So Jimmy came to Tools last May in Harrisburg, and he happened to walk into my room and saw what I brought for the Bling jacket, and he said he forgot his. So he actually ordered one and had it delivered the next day. So he.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:20]:
Now that he's serious business.

Bret Fadley [00:01:23]:
Yeah. So we kind of started this little shindig. Like, we're going to do a jacket exchange and come out of, like, who wore it best. So every event that him and I are at, we coordinate this and we're spreading the word. And as you mentioned, the word spreading.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:39]:
Yeah.

Bret Fadley [00:01:41]:
I went to the summit down in Florida with the Institute, and their motto was stand out. Well, I guess Jimmy Lee and whoever else is getting involved, we're here to stand out. Our industry's about standing out. We have to rise above everybody else to show what this industry is about. And I just think it's a little fun gimmick that we're doing. It gets people. It brings a whole new perspective to these events that you attend. And it's starting to spread, like you said.

Bret Fadley [00:02:12]:
I know Jimmy gave me pictures. He was up at one in the Northwestern part, and guys had jackets on. So it's a little fun thing. This is the one he gave me out at Vision.

Braxton Critcher [00:02:23]:
And now you're starting something. Something else that I'm not quite as fond of.

Bret Fadley [00:02:30]:
Oh, what's that?

Braxton Critcher [00:02:32]:
You've got those wands that flash and cause Caesars.

Bret Fadley [00:02:37]:
I may have these at Tools.

Braxton Critcher [00:02:39]:
I. Well, you have. You have mentioned that. And I don't know, you might deter me from wanting to go there.

Bret Fadley [00:02:45]:
Brad, between you and Mike Allen.

Braxton Critcher [00:02:48]:
Oh, my gosh. So the funny thing was, we're talking about the. It was shopware. It was a shopware party.

Bret Fadley [00:02:57]:
Yeah. It was called the Changing the Industry gathering, But I think Velo and Shopware were the people behind it.

Braxton Critcher [00:03:04]:
Yeah. And they had put those, whatever you call them, on these tables. And at first they were flashing, and it was bothering Mike. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna lean into this and really bother Mike. But then the more I turned them on and saw how annoying they were, then I was getting annoyed, and I was starting to get a headache along with Mike. And so I was like, oh, this is. I see what he's talking about here. So now those are becoming popular, too.

Bret Fadley [00:03:36]:
And as you guys were turning them off, I was going around.

Braxton Critcher [00:03:40]:
You were going back around, turning it back on. Yeah.

Bret Fadley [00:03:43]:
Oh, my gosh.

Braxton Critcher [00:03:45]:
So I have not been to Tools, and I know it's coming up in.

Bret Fadley [00:03:51]:
The end of May.

Braxton Critcher [00:03:52]:
Yeah. Just over a month.

Bret Fadley [00:03:54]:
Weekend after Memorial Day.

Braxton Critcher [00:03:56]:
Yeah.

Bret Fadley [00:03:57]:
It's going to be in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at the Windham Wyndham Lancaster Conference Center. So.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:06]:
Well, so here's what I know about the event. I'm going to tell you what I know, and then you fill the gaps and then you tell the rest because it's very limited.

Bret Fadley [00:04:15]:
Okay.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:16]:
I know that Tools is in Pennsylvania.

Bret Fadley [00:04:18]:
Yep.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:19]:
I know it's in late May.

Bret Fadley [00:04:21]:
Yep.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:21]:
And I know that it's a new ish event. Yes.

Bret Fadley [00:04:26]:
All right. So the last is not quite true.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:29]:
Okay. Is it's a growing event. Right. So it's a smaller one.

Bret Fadley [00:04:33]:
It is. It's. So Tools has been around for over five, six years. It started out as our associations tech train.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:44]:
I mean, that's new Ish. It's new ish.

Bret Fadley [00:04:47]:
Well, it's technically been around. The rebranding came around later, and it wasn't being promoted properly. I don't know how to say it politely, but it was a dying show, and Lucas and David can attest to that. They were there in 22, and if it wouldn't have been for them, they're coming at least in 22. We wouldn't have had the small attendance that we did. So we came to try and help promote the show because we were contracted to have it where we were having it at the Kalahari. And the Poconos. Big, big resort, expensive resort.

Bret Fadley [00:05:32]:
And lo and behold, the executive director resigned. Thrown on our lap. But we still had to have this event that October. I never organized an event. I think I mentioned this on a couple recordings. Never did it. And we turned the event around that October in six months, basically put that show together almost two and a half Times more attendance than we had in 22. We had 30 some vendors that showed up and support.

Bret Fadley [00:06:07]:
And I thought this was going to be a one and done deal. Next thing I know, people said, hey, this was great. We want more of this in this area. So I ripped the band aid off and said, all right, we're going to move it to May because I've been advocating to get out of that fall gauntlet of everything that goes on between. And we were right before Apex and sema.

Braxton Critcher [00:06:30]:
Yeah, Bad time.

Bret Fadley [00:06:32]:
So it's. It's a bad time. I had. We didn't have a place. We didn't have a date. Last May, we found a place in Harrisburg. It was a smaller venue. Attendance was up.

Bret Fadley [00:06:44]:
We had a great turnout. We actually turned a little bit of a profit last year for turning it around in six months. So now here we are. We're going to continue to grow this show. TOOLS stands for Technician and Owners on Learning Strategies. That's the acronym for it. So when you mention Tools, people like Tools. I don't need hand tools.

Bret Fadley [00:07:05]:
No, it's Tools. It's right. It's the name of it. Do we need to rebrand it? I don't know.

Braxton Critcher [00:07:12]:
Talk to Mike Allen about rebranding a show and see what happens.

Bret Fadley [00:07:16]:
Yeah, I don't know because this year I've actually had a lot of people call that want to be a part of the show. So now I guess the, the ad, the overall vision of what Tools is, is growing. So I guess we're doing something right. People are saying, hey, what's the next big. You know, I left Vision. And they say, what's the next big show? And everybody was talking Tools.

Braxton Critcher [00:07:41]:
Really? That's great.

Bret Fadley [00:07:44]:
So that's a good sign. So if you, if you did not get to go to Vision, if you don't go to ASTA down in North Carolina on the East Coast, I mean, there's plenty of these kind of training events and venues that show up. And we're trying to make Tools that big thing for the Northeast sector of the. Of the U.S. yeah.

Braxton Critcher [00:08:06]:
I was going to ask, you know, how. How many other events like this happen in the Northeast?

Bret Fadley [00:08:11]:
So we have as an organization, Mid Atlantic, Auto Care alliance, aca, the other. Since we came together as two organizations into one, Tools was aasps. Super Saturday is. We was always Mid Atlantic. So we will have two events up in here and Super Saturday is going to stay as a smaller regional and we're looking to grow Tools as the Northeastern event to go to. When's the other one, the other one is in November, second week in November.

Braxton Critcher [00:08:46]:
There's good separation there. That's good.

Bret Fadley [00:08:48]:
Yeah. So we're going to see how both shows grow and if they, if they kind of falter and stuff, then we'll talk about it as an organization of where do we put our focus or how do we bring them together and, and push them. But right now we're going to run two events. Tools is going to continue to grow as the big regional event and we'll leave Super Saturday as a smaller region event. But yeah, as of now, as of Today I have 200 people registered for Tools, which is up from last, from May of last year. So it's starting to grow. I need another hundred people to make it very viable. So we need, we need your support.

Bret Fadley [00:09:35]:
We're going to have a lot of fun starting we have a Thursday add on package where if you sign up for the event you can pick Thursday as an all day training class. I've. I think it's five or six classes that you can select from for that. And then Friday all day training. Saturday morning, Sunday morning. So I will explain why I had to add Sunday morning to it. We decided to run the trade show one day with no training involved and that was going to be Saturday afternoon. So we dedicated the afternoon to the trade shows and we didn't want to interfere with training so I had to put the Sunday morning in and I try and stay away from Sunday because everybody wants to go home.

Braxton Critcher [00:10:19]:
Yeah.

Bret Fadley [00:10:20]:
But since we renegotiated the contract, we are now also having the trade show on Friday. But it's just going to be an open trade show. It's not going to be the debt. It'll be there. If you want to go, you can go. But we're encouraging you to sign up and go to the classes because we have 52 classes to choose from. So we have quite the, quite the selection. And basically we're focusing on the entire shop from your all your levels of specialist to the front end to ownership, advisors, managers, everything.

Bret Fadley [00:10:56]:
So we're trying to focus on if you're gonna bring the shop, we want something for everybody to attend. So we kind of focused on our agenda that way with not a whole lot of overlap. I don't like to overlap classes. Like if, you know, I went to a couple events and you have five owners classes to choose from. So which one is an owner do you want to go sit through? True, you will have some overlap with that many classes to select from, but I try not to make Them all the same. I want a variety of topics for everybody to attend and get something out of. So we're trying to grow this. We're hoping Tools becomes a big one like ASTA has become down in North Carolina.

Braxton Critcher [00:11:37]:
Yeah.

Bret Fadley [00:11:38]:
And all shows got to start somewhere.

Braxton Critcher [00:11:41]:
Well, I was going to bring up asta, so, you know, people in the industry, when. When they mention Asta, you. You get the feeling of family connection and it might just be because it's in the south and you get that vibe from the event. I don't know.

Bret Fadley [00:12:01]:
Northerners don't know how to be hospitable.

Braxton Critcher [00:12:03]:
Absolutely not. No. I've been to Philadelphia. I know what you're about.

Bret Fadley [00:12:07]:
Okay, well, that's. Philly is the whole world by itself.

Braxton Critcher [00:12:12]:
That is a good point. That's a good point. But people love asta. They have done such a great job at crafting a feel to the event. It's more than training. There's just a feeling around it. So when you think about Tools, obviously I know you want to make it different, to stand out for it to grow, but when you think about a type of feeling or you think about a type of training or just an overall vibe around the show, what kind of goes on in your mind about your vision for what you want it to be?

Bret Fadley [00:12:50]:
The vision I would have for Tools or any training event is just exactly what you described. It's where you can come, you can bring your staff. You don't feel like you're on the outskirts of it. You can feel a part of the event, whether it's sitting in a training room, sitting around the lobby area and just having conversation and getting to meet people. I've said this numerous times and I will preach it from the mountaintops. The biggest thing that I've ever taken away from any training, training event that I've gone to is the networking. Yeah, Networking to me is the key to this industry, any industry and all aspects of your life. I wouldn't have got to know 90% of the people in this industry if I wouldn't attend any kind of event.

Bret Fadley [00:13:49]:
So if you don't attend an event, if you feel like it's not for you, I am going to challenge you and say, put yourself and challenge yourself to step outside of your comfort zone and attend an event. Whether it's tools, whether it's asta, whether it's vision, or even just a small local training thing, get to them because your networking is where it's at. Yes, you will gain knowledge because our industry, we have to continue to Train and, and get the new skills to keep up with the ever changing technology. I watched the episode with you and Justin and Justin is a huge advocate on training and people like that are beneficial to this industry as a whole. They are constantly talking about this is what you need to do. You have to get to these events and there's opportunities out there if they can't afford to go. I know there's owners that don't like to pay their staff to go and that is the biggest mistake I think you're going to make. You know the ones I love going to these events.

Bret Fadley [00:15:01]:
You had mentioned about the jackets. I mean, I, I, I knew who Jimmy was. I've met him briefly in the past. But getting to know the key people that in the, and the celebrities. I'm going to call you guys celebrities because this is what you're doing. It's, it's huge. Like I've mentioned, I went to Vision for the first time. I wouldn't have, I would have made friends and I would have been because I'm a people person.

Bret Fadley [00:15:30]:
As Rick White said, I'm a flamboyant hugger.

Braxton Critcher [00:15:35]:
You and David or David Roman are a great mix.

Bret Fadley [00:15:40]:
David's too intelligent for me, but it would have been a different experience for me not knowing the people that I do. So I can feel if somebody goes to a Vision or Apex and sema, it can be a bit overwhelming. But if you get there, step outside your comfort zone because this is a very welcoming community of people and some of the smartest in our industry gather at these events and you get the most knowledge. As Brian Pollock said, sitting around a bar, having the bar talk, that is, that's worth the money in itself to attend these events. And whether it's tools and stuff, yes, I'm here to promote our event here in the mid Atlantic aca. But I'm gonna, I'm a, I'm a second generation owner and these events weren't, it didn't exist when I got into this industry. They were, you went to either a night training or an all day shop, you know, training session during the day on a Saturday. These events are huge and I love it.

Bret Fadley [00:16:47]:
And they are, they're becoming very popular and they are all over this country. And if we could figure out, okay, hey, I can go to this one, I can go to that one budget for it, put it in your budget and set it aside and take your staff, invest in your staff because not only it will help them, it's going to help you and create. You're creating a culture where you're going to invest in your staff and people will love that.

Braxton Critcher [00:17:16]:
Yeah. I mean, I think it's a huge asset. I think it's great for the area. You know, that area. There's a. There's. You're tapping into a large audience of folks that may not want to travel to North Carolina, to Kansas City, to, you know, Las Vegas, to Phoenix, and they can just shoot over to Pennsylvania. I think that's.

Braxton Critcher [00:17:41]:
Your location is really great.

Bret Fadley [00:17:44]:
So we were happy to get this location in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And it is Amish country. And if you've never been to Lancaster Penns.

Braxton Critcher [00:17:53]:
I have.

Bret Fadley [00:17:54]:
Even. You have.

Braxton Critcher [00:17:56]:
I have. Yeah. Twice.

Bret Fadley [00:17:58]:
I will tell you, if you have a sweet tooth, a whoopie pie and a wet bottom shoo fly pie are going to be your. The two I'm going to tell you to go get. And if you go out, if you come to Tools and you go out and get that, I'm going to ask you to bring some extra back for myself because I have a huge sweet tooth. Just the area alone. There's all kind of things to do right across the street. If you have young children and you want to bring. So we're encouraging you to bring your family as well. We have Dutch Wonderland, which is an amusement park for younger children.

Bret Fadley [00:18:33]:
If you want to bring your spouse and you want to give them an open checkbook or the credit card, Tanger outlets are a walk away from the hotel and there's other outlets up the street. And it's just a beautiful area to see. There's all kind of sightseeing to do.

Braxton Critcher [00:18:50]:
What's the restaurant in Lancaster? Bird In Hand.

Bret Fadley [00:18:56]:
Well, that's a town.

Braxton Critcher [00:18:58]:
Well, there's a restaurant too. In. Maybe in Bird in Hand. It was a. It was a. It was. It had a buffet.

Bret Fadley [00:19:05]:
Are you talking about. Oh, man. What? It's not in Bird in Hand. I don't think I've been there.

Braxton Critcher [00:19:11]:
And it's right beside a mini golf place.

Bret Fadley [00:19:15]:
There's all kind of buffets, but I'm trying to think of the one you're.

Braxton Critcher [00:19:18]:
It was like Amish style.

Bret Fadley [00:19:20]:
Like.

Braxton Critcher [00:19:20]:
It was. I think the Amish run it served the food. It was amazing.

Bret Fadley [00:19:23]:
There's probably. There's plenty of that kind of buffets. Yeah. The food you're gonna get, it's just a whole new experience here.

Braxton Critcher [00:19:32]:
Yeah. It is different.

Bret Fadley [00:19:34]:
So we're trying to create that vibe you were getting to earlier, like a family. Bring your family. Let them enjoy it while you're sitting and networking and Lear. And then we did leave ample time free time for you to go enjoy stuff like Friday night we had. What's that? Cracking. Is that me?

Braxton Critcher [00:19:53]:
No, that was me. I'm sorry.

Bret Fadley [00:19:54]:
Okay. I thought it was me.

Braxton Critcher [00:19:56]:
You're good.

Bret Fadley [00:19:57]:
We did leave ample time Friday night. We didn't really schedule anything so you could have some time to go out and explore on your own. And then I did talk to Jimmy Lee after Super Saturday last year where they had some evening classes, like a two hour bonus session. So I put two bonus sessions in there for those who don't want to go out and they still want something to do. And then Friday night we're also doing the amazing Women Automotive Social from 5 to 7. So we're going to have that for, with, with the women. But we do have a lot of free time in there that you can do it. Saturday night's going to be our keynote speaker, which is going to be Josh Purnell.

Bret Fadley [00:20:40]:
He's ecstatic to be there.

Braxton Critcher [00:20:43]:
He's, he's, he's grabbing a lot of attention. Josh is, he's.

Bret Fadley [00:20:47]:
I met him at Vision. I've talked to him. I was on his podcast and talked to him and met him at Vision for the first time. He's phenomenal.

Braxton Critcher [00:20:53]:
I was just at Fueling Connections over the weekend and he was speaking there and he just is a captivating speaker and he knows his stuff. Stuff. And I, I told Mike Allen in the back, I said every other sentence this guy speaks is quotable and you need to write it down.

Bret Fadley [00:21:11]:
Yeah.

Braxton Critcher [00:21:11]:
Like, it's incredible.

Bret Fadley [00:21:13]:
It's great. I did want to come down to Fueling Connections. I, I was trying to see how I could make it work. But because I did the Summit, because I did Vision and I got tools coming up, I have a lot of my plate trying to figure what's the.

Braxton Critcher [00:21:27]:
Closest airport to Lancaster and what's the hotel situation like.

Bret Fadley [00:21:32]:
All right, so if you are going to fly in, the closest airport is Harrisburg International. However, it's a smaller regional airport. You won't get any direct flights. The two major airports is either going to be Philly or BWI. They're both about an hour and 20 minutes away.

Braxton Critcher [00:21:51]:
That's not terrible.

Bret Fadley [00:21:53]:
No hotel. It's a large hotel. We had, we had 250 rooms blocked between the three days. We had to add some for Wednesday because we didn't think about that when we were talking to them that we need some Wednesday night dates. So it is a large hotel. We have taken over the entire, all their training rooms. All their boardrooms that they have, we have the entire thing. We have a 17,500 square foot trade show floor where we'll have 61 booths.

Bret Fadley [00:22:26]:
Hopefully we have that filled. So we're looking for good things. The hotel definitely has room for this event to expand. If it gets to a thousand people, we may have to look at another place, but there's another whole trade show hall or exhibit hall on site that's, that's connected. If you golf, there's a golf course connected right to the hotel.

Braxton Critcher [00:22:53]:
By the way, I think the restaurant I was referencing is closed. Oh, this was 15 years ago when I was there, maybe 10. But I think it was called Bird in Hand Family restaurant.

Bret Fadley [00:23:08]:
Oh, it could have been.

Braxton Critcher [00:23:10]:
I'm looking at pictures and this looks just like what I was talking about. So I, I think that's what it was. But you're, you're right. There isn't one called that because it's closed. But that, that's what I was referencing.

Bret Fadley [00:23:24]:
Well, people say the Amish don't have a sense of humor. Just look at some of the names in the Lancaster county area. Bird in Hand.

Braxton Critcher [00:23:33]:
Yeah.

Bret Fadley [00:23:34]:
Intercourse.

Braxton Critcher [00:23:38]:
Hey. I don't care if they don't have a sense of humor. Their food's good, man.

Bret Fadley [00:23:42]:
Blue ball.

Braxton Critcher [00:23:44]:
Blue ball.

Bret Fadley [00:23:45]:
Yeah.

Braxton Critcher [00:23:46]:
Really?

Bret Fadley [00:23:47]:
So it's funny. I think I used to joke like, hey, you go through Bird in Hand Intercourse and now you get the blue ball. No, but it's a great location. We were lucky to get it. We're going to hopefully maintain that location for the next several years unless we outgrow that location. Looking forward to it. I'm actually going to do a walkthrough. I don't know when you're going to do this, but this coming Friday, I'm going to do a walkthrough with the audio visual guys and we have room to expand.

Bret Fadley [00:24:21]:
The only, the only facility we are not using is their theater. And I thought we were going to have to use the theater, but that was an extra cost and we didn't need to. But next year I'm going to probably use the theater for like the dinner. So we're got a lot of stuff planned.

Braxton Critcher [00:24:39]:
You know, where do people go to sign up? And at this point, I'm sure the deadlines passed for the lower rate, but you walk me through that.

Bret Fadley [00:24:49]:
So you can find the Tools registration, Mid Atlantic, aca.org tools or if you just go to midatlanticaca.org you can go to events. Click on Tools registration. Is there attendee Registration. If you scroll down, you can see some of the agenda. You can click on the seminars and see all the seminars we have available. And then once you do register. Yes, the early bird discount has been gone. I will apologize.

Bret Fadley [00:25:29]:
We did not get registration open when I wanted it to. We were delayed for a couple reasons because the two organizations came together. There was a lot of back end stuff with the. The membership website and stuff that we had to get figured out first. And that took us longer than I wanted to. But I think it's 459 if you are not a member of Mid Atlantic ACA and 379 I think if you are a member.

Braxton Critcher [00:25:59]:
Cool.

Bret Fadley [00:26:00]:
Overall, it's. It's a pretty reasonable thing.

Braxton Critcher [00:26:03]:
Oh, yeah, sure.

Bret Fadley [00:26:05]:
Hotel rooms are averaging at 179. We do have room block and I think I gotta double check. I think that room block will go off at the end of April, maybe early May. But I'm gonna see, I'm gonna look, see where we're at at the hotel. And if we have to, maybe I'll get to see if we can get that extended.

Braxton Critcher [00:26:28]:
You know, you talked about people wanting or needing to foot the build just because it's worth it. You know, I know there are shows that put up sponsorships. You probably have just like the deadline has passed for Early Bird. The sponsorship's probably already filled. But for next year. Is that a thing or.

Bret Fadley [00:26:46]:
So we are still accepting. If you want to exhibit on the trade show floor, we still have some open spaces there.

Braxton Critcher [00:26:53]:
Okay.

Bret Fadley [00:26:53]:
We still have sponsorship opportunities for this year and we'll take them up until that last, you know, as close as possible.

Braxton Critcher [00:27:02]:
Oh, fantastic. Okay.

Bret Fadley [00:27:04]:
If you cannot make this year. Yes. Put that date aside like it's the weekend after Memorial Day. We're going to maintain that. So for next year, I think it's still May. The following year in 27, it will be like the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of June.

Braxton Critcher [00:27:22]:
Yeah. A lot of times the Memorial Day is the last Monday. It's right there at the end of the month. So you'll wind up being in June. But. But that really, you know, that's a great time of year up in that part of the country. It's not hot yet. It still feels nice.

Braxton Critcher [00:27:37]:
Weather's good. So we.

Bret Fadley [00:27:39]:
I was skeptical last year when that was the date we had gotten. It was the only. So I had two dates last year to choose from, from two different locations. One was in towards Pittsburgh Mother's Day weekend. And I was told, absolutely not. Don't do it on Mother's Day weekend and this date, and it was supposed to be in Harrisburg, and I was skeptical and I was like, well, it's the date we got. Let's see what it works like, because you're asking. You already closed on Monday, and shop owners don't like to close their shop.

Bret Fadley [00:28:12]:
Now you're going to ask them to close possibly Thursday, Friday to come to a training event. It went well. And you can make a week of it and come down and just close for the week. I closed over the Fourth of July the whole week. I've been doing that for a couple years, kind of that mid year break.

Braxton Critcher [00:28:32]:
Yeah, sure.

Bret Fadley [00:28:35]:
But yeah, it's. Invest in yourself, invest in your business, invest in your team. It will pay dividends in the long run. The quote that I've always heard, and I forget his name, it's the guy from Virgin Records. Train your staff as if they were to leave. Treat them as. So they never will.

Braxton Critcher [00:28:56]:
If.

Bret Fadley [00:28:57]:
If you do that, your business will thrive. And I'm. I'm hoping people want to come to Tools and see what it's all about. You can come if you want. Get in on the jacket thing. Let Jimmy and I know you want to do that kind of a little fun gig. Bring it. Bring your A game.

Bret Fadley [00:29:18]:
If you're going to come, bring your jacket. Bring your A game.

Braxton Critcher [00:29:21]:
Or just be like Jimmy and show up without one and realize you missed out and just ship it there the next day.

Bret Fadley [00:29:27]:
He had jackets, but he didn't have one to compete with my bling.

Braxton Critcher [00:29:31]:
Jimmy and I do talk a big game. You talk a big game, Brett, but you got a nice one on right now.

Bret Fadley [00:29:36]:
We'll say, well, this is the one Jimmy got me. So we have. Jimmy and I exchange jackets. So we buy each other a jacket. So I texted him last week and said, all right, do you like blue or burgundy? So he's like, why? I said, because I ordered two. I was like, I like the jacket. So I ordered one in each color.

Braxton Critcher [00:29:59]:
One for you, one for me.

Bret Fadley [00:30:00]:
Yeah. And I was like, which one? He's like, well, I like. I'm kind of partial to blue. I'm like, okay, I'll have the burgundy one. It will go flashy. We'll go like the first one that we did down at ASTA this past year. I got him a. Was kind of a flashy but formal jacket.

Braxton Critcher [00:30:20]:
Yes. Black.

Bret Fadley [00:30:22]:
Yeah.

Braxton Critcher [00:30:22]:
And he's the one that Jeff Compton wore during the.

Bret Fadley [00:30:25]:
Yeah, that's okay.

Braxton Critcher [00:30:27]:
Yeah, yeah.

Bret Fadley [00:30:28]:
And then he got me a nice. He just told me it Just think classy. And it wasn't a flashy coat. It was a nice plaid gray and blue jacket. I still wear it. I wear it to church once in a while. I love that jacket.

Braxton Critcher [00:30:41]:
Well, you're wearing the coat of many colors right now, so that one is not formal. That one's like. That one's like going to, you know, some. I guess I don't even know what. You wear that to tools. You know, wear it to tools.

Bret Fadley [00:30:55]:
It may be Easter Sunday. This Sunday.

Braxton Critcher [00:30:57]:
Hey, there you go. You are an Easter egg. Yeah, you would blend in.

Bret Fadley [00:31:01]:
Easter egg. I thought I'd put it on. Plus, it goes well with these.

Braxton Critcher [00:31:07]:
Oh, okay. And that's a good time to wrap up. The link to register for tools is in the show notes and, you know, hopefully we'll get some more folks to sign up. Brett.

Bret Fadley [00:31:20]:
All right, man. Hey, Braxton. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. Good talking to you.

Braxton Critcher [00:31:24]:
All right, see you.

Braxton Critcher [00:31:29]:
Hey, if you're still here, thank you so much for listening to this episode of Automotive Repair News today. If you enjoyed the show, please take a moment like share. Subscribe to the podcast. It'll help us out a big deal.

Braxton Critcher [00:31:41]:
And help grow the show.

Braxton Critcher [00:31:43]:
And you know what? While you're at it, slap on a review, too. If you feel like this content is helpful for the industry, don't forget to follow us on all your favorite social media platforms. We're on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, stakeholders connected and be the first to know about new episodes, behind the scene content, and more. And until next time, let's make the industry better together.