2020-06-12 — A Little Earlier

Guess what?!?!

It’s 10:14!!! 😁

But not just that, I’ve already eaten, hydrated myself, and gone for my run! I’ve actually been home since a little after 8:00!!!

Are you proud of me?!?! 😁

I’d like to say it’s all because I’ve turned over a new leaf. But… well… today was a little slower because yesterday I was scrambling around so crazy like that I lost most of the jobs because I couldn’t get back to people in time, which resulted in a slower day today. I think we only did like… 6 cars between the two of us (6 paying cars, that is. We worked on 8)? And I only did two? Maybe? I can’t think clearly today. It’s all a blur.

Either way, instead of scheduling more cars for today and pushing super hard, I pushed things to tomorrow and was home by about 8. 😇

Yee haw!

Anyway, because of the day yesterday, I wasn’t prepared at all for the start of today and didn’t get my tech off to his first job until like 10 a.m. or so. After that, things picked up.

My first job was a Mercedes that had I been prepared, I would have had my tech do, as it was right down near where he usually starts the day for me. That car had a shredded belt, so I got him fixed up and chatted with him a tiny bit about China, since I’d recently been there to visit, and that’s where he’s from. Nice guy. 😊

Then went to the Springdale Walmart Supercenter and bought some work shirts for my tech and some Powerade for me to help me stay hydrated.

The next car was supposed to be a pre-purchase inspection but they didn’t realize the car was a manual transmission, and the young lady didn’t know how to drive a stick, so it was a wash. I might have made a good business contact, though, as the dealer asked for my card.

That was way down in Farmington.

My next job was up in Centerton (like 40 minutes away from where I was. It was a cleanup job for one of the other mobile mechanic companies. In fact, we did two clean up jobs today for one of my main competitors. The cars were both Ford Fusions (interestingly enough), and one had already paid the other company over $600, and they still hadn’t gotten the issue fixed, so they called me. That car was in Bentonville and was the car from the other night at midnight (if you remember) that the other company asked for my help on. I had pointed him in the right direction, but I guess he still hadn’t figured it out. The owner got tired of spending money without getting the car fixed, and I sent my tech over there, and he got it figured out (it was indeed the control module after all), and he got the gentleman on his way for only $167.xx.

He was super happy with us and said he’d give us a good review. Hope he does. Lots of promises lately from lots of happy customers, but no one actually writing reviews.

The other cleanup job was that other Ford Fusion in Centerton that they were charged $200 to install a belt on, and it ended up being the wrong belt and came off. I think there might be something more to it because it came off twice on my tech as well, even with the correct belt. Then it stayed on, and I took it for a good long drive, and it was totally fine, so… ???

I asked the customer what he wanted to do, and he was super happy with us and that was that.

You know, my business is really doing well here. I’ve got another cleanup job for one of the other mobile mechanic companies down south tomorrow. We’re building a pretty good reputation. Looks like the other companies are slipping a bit or going out of business, which is opening things up even more for me up north. We still have pretty good competition down south, and I’m fine with that. We’re already busier than we can handle.

Anyway, with that last Fusion, the customer was totally happy with us, and said it was a great experience for him.

With as busy as we’ve been, we’re on pace to break our monthly record yet again. I think we’ve done 70ish cars already this month, and we’re not even halfway through the month!

Wahoo!

So… that’s super good for us right now. Still no word on anyone good to hire. One of the AutoZone peeps thought she might know someone, but haven’t heard anything from him yet. He sounded pretty promising, but haven’t heard a lick.

Well… I feel like this is a boring post. Not much excitement or anything really new.

Uh… I don’t think I swore even once today, so that’s great. Not even a flier! That’s something, at least 😊.

Still going strong on everything. I still have that super hard commitment to make, though–no new jobs after X hour of the day. That’s a super tough one. I still cringe at the thought of that one.

Oh, I’m out of tortillas!!! I was even at Aldi today to buy ice cream desert thingies for my AutoZone peeps. I didn’t think about it then. I bought milk but no tortillas, salsa or the other stuff.

No more peanut butter and jelly burritos until I do! 😬

#1. I’m grateful for a much lighter much happier day. 😊

#2. I’m grateful for happy customers who recognize what we’re able to do for them. My tech got that VW (crazy starter) going. I don’t remember if I mentioned it, but it was still having the original issue it was having before the starter took a nosedive, but my tech figured out what was wrong and gave them a way to bypass it until they can get the part to fix it.

#3. I’m grateful that I was able to run a bit longer tonight. I’m still not back to my 30 minutes, but I did 20 today, and my body was okay with it. I wasn’t super dehydrated or malnourished today, so that helped. It was hot today, but I wasn’t out in it as much, and for some reason, it didn’t feel as hot as it was. So that was nice, too,

#4. I’m grateful to be getting to bed before midnight tonight! So nice!

#5. I’m grateful to have remembered my aux cable, to bring it with me tomorrow (finally 😊).

Well, my lovelies, happy weekend. I hope you have a splendid evening, if it’s not over already for you. Sweet dreams. Smiles, hugs, and loves from the little dude here in the big NWA.

Lift the World.

~ stephen

68, 76, 67, 41, 31, 4