What Changes Have You Actually Made So Far?

According to your New Year’s resolutions, this is going to be your best year ever, right? So here we are, one month down, eleven more to go. So how are you doing so far?

Have you taken steps to make this year much better than last year? Have you put more focus on your marketing so you can attract more and better clients? Fired that crappy employee? Hired or trained your service writer? Hired a great new tech? Raised your prices? Fired your pain-in-the-ass customers? Cleaned up your shop? Read through and listened to the books and CDs that came with the auto repair marketing system for the second or third time so that you are reminded of all of the proven ideas on how to get more customers in your shop (or if you don’t have my system, have you at least read a book on marketing?)? Have you stopped doing what isn’t working? Have you sought out help from successful experts and fellow shop owners that are still doing well? Have you put together your plan of attack for the next 11 months?

On the personal side, are you spending less time at the shop and more time with your family? Have you lost a few of those pounds that you promised yourself that you’d lose? Are you eating better? Are you exercising every day? Are you having more fun?

If you know that you need to make some or all of those changes listed above but haven’t gotten started yet, why not? What the heck are you waiting for? These changes are up to YOU – no one else. Stop with the excuses and take full responsibility for your actions (or in-actions). It’s not too late to get started making those changes TODAY, is it?

Switching gears (pardon the pun), I just got back from what just might be one of the most thrilling weeks of my life, driving off road Baja challenge vehicles from Loreto to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We drove about 560 miles over mountains, through streams and through desert pastures using the exact vehicles that just completed the Baja 1000 race this past November. When we weren’t maneuvering through dusty hairpin S-turns (going waaaay too fast!) or crawling over huge boulders, we were flying through cactus forest trails barely wide enough to fit in (and when I say fly, I mean going very fast – and – literally flying through the air over the many jumps that mother nature had carved into the landscape for us!!!).

Why am I telling you about this? Two reasons: First, to remind you that there is more to life than just working all the time. You need to go out and have some fun. And second, if you’re interested, I’m planning on putting together another trip to Baja sometime soon if I have enough interest from all of you. It’s expensive, but I promise you it’s a trip that you will NEVER forget!

I’ll be posting lots of pictures and videos of my trip on Facebook over the next few days. If you’re not already a ‘friend’, look me up and send me a request.

As always, I look forward to your comments. Please post them below.

Best, Ron Ipach, CinRon Marketing Group

Tags: 2010, auto repair, Baja Challenge, blog, Cinron, Facebook, marketing, Ron Ipach