Dr. Mike was on the Mic!

There are a couple things I wanted to make sure you had a chance to know and review from the Mike Anderson meeting (you were likely not in attendance for) and need to check out:

• Everyone should have a succession plan. He suggested that we have a future WMABA Meeting going over what it means to either sell the business, become a phantom stockholder, or protect the business with a family trust and pre-nups that keeps ex-spouses or other vultures out. Keep in mind that without a pre-nuptial agreement, a divorcing spouse from an heir can come after their inheritance. Wouldn’t that be terrible?!
• When he had a shop, he would send his rates certified mail with a cover letter to all insurance companies. Every quarter, they would send out the letter of rates, including the statistical data and government cost of living increases. Also the increases in IT, Equipment, and Training. Basically, it included anything justifying the reasons behind the rate change to promote education of insurance representatives as to why it was necessary to make the change.
• You should check out the following websites that came up in the discussions:
  1. com – if you want a free trial to this site that checks for missing operations – AKA FREE MONEY! – then let me know and I’ll make sure you get it!
  2. org – showing new vehicles with aluminum. Enough said.
  3. org – There are multiple divisions in our area of the USO, and they are looking for career objectives for military personnel being released back into civilian life. Wouldn’t it be great to get these well-trained people into our industry?! (WMABA is working on this too, so check with us to see progress)
  4. com – a cool site dedicated to the emergency extrication information on vehicle structures for emergency personnel, such as firefighters, police and EMTs. It’s also interesting to see the vehicle diagrams that they have on the site. If you work with any local first responders, send them here!
  5. com – Not to be outdone by Aluminum and Boron, the Steel industry also has a website of information about steel usage in vehicles and the communications they have with automakers. Keeping up on what usage of their high-tensile steel or super-high strength steels is just as important as aluminum and other metals.

If Mike comes back, you need to make it. Every shop there emailed me, thanking us, for having him speak. You may have known Mike from being a body shop owner/manager, like you, but you have to put that aside and come see him as an industry inspirer, motivator, and friend. Where he is now is a place of comradery, leadership, and educator. He’s incredibly entertaining, but it is all very useful to you in your day-to-day operations.

If the humdrum of this industry has you in the dumps, then you need to pull yourself out of it to be at our meetings. We always have one thing going for us: no one will judge you, oppress you, or beat you up. The people at our meetings are all there for one reason: get better.

Thanks for supporting us by reading, and get that Membership Application in. You owe it to yourself to make sure this industry is around for you in the future!