The Rules That Turned 2 Gas Station Bays Into a 56-Lift Shop

Perry Adams rented two bays at an Exxon for $200 a month in 1980. Today he is the founder and CEO of Adams Automotive in Houston. His son Joe sits down with him in Bay 1 and asks for the rules he built the shop on, and the mistakes behind them. Joe Adams talks with his father about "Perry's Proverbs", the rules Perry has used to run his shop for 46 years and had never written down until this episode. Perry gives the stories behind them: how he gets a car in the door, why he took on fewer jobs, why he made the shop feel like a hotel, and what arguing with customers cost him. This episode is for auto repair shop owners and technicians. In this episode: - How Perry started: two bays at an Exxon for $200 a month, and what he found out about that rent later - The 1989 move to a 4,000 square foot, one-bay shop, and 100 days of getting it ready - Why a free quick look works: "looking always ends up fixing" - Fix what they came in for, and why the work customers see is the work you do - The question about what cars he likes to work on, and how it changed which customers he works for - Why the waiting room, the front counter and the drive-up cover are set up the way they are - "It's expensive to be right": a $3,200 compressor customer, and Perry's own mistakes with arbitration and repossession - Looking back at the Exxon: rent that went from $200 to $1,350 a month, and going broke again when he left 0:00 Intro 0:55 Bay 1: how Adams Automotive started 3:29 Perry's proverbs: no car, no anything 7:06 Nobody can beat free 8:29 Looking always ends up fixing 10:12 Get them out of the car 11:46 No stop signs 14:33 Fix what they came in for 17:12 The work they see is the work you do 21:10 Messy people, and God's question 26:42 The big engine job 29:09 1975: open heart surgery in front of the customer 32:00 A hotel, not a garage 34:52 Juan and the honor of the job 35:47 Emotional satisfaction doesn't pay the bills 38:42 Hero jobs vs. gravy 40:09 Show them the future: you're the doctor 43:57 I am sold myself 51:25 What's it keeping you from? 53:08 An early answer keeps the phone from ringing 57:12 It's got to be okay to spend money here 59:26 It's expensive to be right 1:02:20 The $800 blend door: a customer for life 1:06:36 Praying it through 1:08:07 No contracts in 46 years 1:11:25 Let God handle it 1:14:43 Outro