David Samaha and Brendon Canale with Diesel David

Intro: [00:00:09] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. It’s time for Cherokee Business Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:25] Welcome to Fearless Formula on Cherokee Radio X, where we talk about the ups and downs in the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. I’m your host, Sharon Cline. And today I have two people in the studio that I’m very excited to introduce you to. One is this is his. He started his business in a Toyota Corolla, which I love. It’s such a great story and now has a box truck and a 9000 square foot building. And he’s built his company on a value that is it is sustainable, it is scalable, and the focus is on the team. I would really love to welcome David Samaha and his general manager, Brendon Canale, and this is from Diesel. Dave Inc. Welcome.

David Samaha: [00:01:06] Good afternoon.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:07] I like the colorful bio. I just thought it was amazing that that’s like you start you can picture a little like Corolla, you know, and you’re just trying to figure out how to do your business in a small car. And the next thing you know, you’ve got this huge, huge company.

David Samaha: [00:01:20] What was more interesting for me was writing the bio in the intake form for the radio show. It’s like I had to do this in third person. This is weird. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:30] So you’re well now. You can do it in first person. So let’s talk a little bit about sort of how you got started. I mean, I know I talk about the car, but what was how is what’s the beginnings of of diesel?

David Samaha: [00:01:42] Dave Inc The beginnings go back to a go cart. So I was 13 years old and I had been cutting grass for probably about like a summer. And so growing up we were in this neighborhood called Parkway Commons in Kennesaw, and it was a really, really great neighborhood to grow up in in suburban Atlanta. And there were these specifically to go carts that the older kids had in the neighborhood for at least ten years before. I mean, I was probably three years old, and these go carts were just going around the neighborhood and they’re like these old 1970s vintage tube frame sheet metal for go carts. And they just kind of bounced around between different kids in the neighborhood. You know, they’d grow up, get, you know, 14, 15 and 16 years old, get a car and go cart would just be sitting and they would pass it down to someone. So at one point, my best friend, he lived right next door to me, had gotten a hold of this go cart with it, everything running and going great and it just stopped running, kind of was just kaput.

David Samaha: [00:02:43] And I saw it down, like in a storage shed. And I kept asking him. It’s like he wanted to sell it and he really did it. And I was like, You’re not doing anything with it. Like, just like, why are you not willing to sell it? He’s like, okay. So I took 50 bucks of my hard earned money from cutting grass, and I got it. And then I started to just, like, take it apart. And my dad was pretty supportive in that he’s always been like a handyman, but by no means is he like. An automotive mechanic or like he was just figuring it out with me. So he’s like, Oh, we need to get the engine manual. And I’m like, No, we just need to take it apart. And he’s like, Well, we need to do this. And I’m like, No, no, we need to see why this is. So he kind of like mentored me through the process, and I think that’s when I realized that I had somewhat of a mechanical aptitude.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:27] It’s funny because everyone thinks of the Internet now like I YouTube everything on how to fix anything. But you didn’t do that then?

David Samaha: [00:03:33] No, no. We went to we went to the library and we got an old school. Oh, Briggs in Stratton, five horsepower engines. And then we went and talked with this man by the name of Harold Huffman, and he owned a lawnmower shop, like right on Canton Road, actually, the same road that our shop is on now. Wow. And this was yeah, 17, 17 years ago. And I went over there and I asked a bunch of questions and he gave me some of his tools to take home, to take the engine apart. And then I came back with more questions, and then he gave me more answers. And it kind of was like this back and forth where he was really like my first mechanical mentor. Like, so I would start going there, like after school and just like. Oh, man. Like pushing lawnmowers around was really the biggest thing, like pressure washing lawnmowers and cleaning things off. And then like after like three months of doing that after school, my parents would drop me off there because I wasn’t driving. And, you know, everyone would like, hey, like, you need to use this to clean this off or you need to, hey, you can take this apart. And like, this problem on this lawnmower is actually caused because water is in it because they keep it outside and they don’t cover it up. So I learned a lot of really cool little like nifty things that, you know, you’re just a sponge at that age. You just soak it up.

Sharon Cline: [00:04:45] So you’ve been wanting to do this or have been interested in it since you were 13?

David Samaha: [00:04:48] Yeah, it was just like curated, right, kind of life. It’s one of those things where life just directs you. And I think if you’re so. I was just, like, letting myself be directed. I wasn’t, like, fixated on being some great mechanic or entrepreneur. Like, I was more focused on. Like cutting grass. Like I’d built this little wooden two by four. Like I took my skateboard apart and I like bolted my like the trucks and wheels on my skateboard up to this. Like, what? An apparatus. And I made a trailer for my go kart so I could put my lawnmower on it. And then I made, like, a side carrier so I could, like, carry my weed whacker. And I didn’t have to, like, have it, like, across my body while I’m driving the go kart and. So I was like, I still drove my go kart even when I was like 15. Like, I’d sometimes, like, I had a little truck that I bought for my brother in law. Like I would drive it to jobs in the neighborhood before I really had my license. But I would still like even at 15 years old and I was tall, I was like six foot by the time I was 15. So totally way too big for this part.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:48] But so fun. Yeah. But then fast forward to when you actually have this business. How did it. Well, you had the origins of it from when you were a teenager. But what were the next steps that created your business?

David Samaha: [00:06:00] Just same. Same thing. But. Different. So larger. Right. So it’s just like the common theme is, is how when you’re open and receptive and you’re just living within your talents and like what you’re good at, like opportunity continues to present itself. So from like the go kart I was doing lawns and I’ve met some like lifelong customers and mentors and I was at school one day and high school sophomore and a recruiter came from Universal Technical Institute. That’s when I really started connecting the dots on like doing automotive and like again, just living in your talents. Like I was installing stereo systems and radios and subwoofers for like juniors and seniors at that point. But like, I just didn’t view it as automotive repair.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:45] Or sustainable business, right?

David Samaha: [00:06:47] Yeah. No, it’s just like doing it because it was fun and it was felt like playing. And so then I like get this in my head that I want to be a mechanic. So I go home and tell my dad and he’s like, Turns off car cowherd was like, Let me tell you about like, you need to be an engineer. It’s kind of like what he was saying and he like drew graphs of like income, potential of engineers and, you know, income potential of mechanics and whatever, slightly outdated numbers and ideology. But anyways, he showed me and then afterwards he’s like, well, if you’re going to do it, you can go to this private school that’s 75,000. You can pay for it yourself. Or what I’ve done with your three older sisters is I’ve offered that if they go to if they qualify for Hope scholarship and the additional tuition expenses and books like I will help pay for, but I’m not willing to do that if you’re not utilizing the resources that are already available to you. And I was like, Okay, well where do I do that? He’s like, Well, there’s a school like two miles away, like it was North Metro Technical College, and I ended up doing a dual enrollment program with them. And it was really cool to just like you’re treated like an adult, you know? So at that point I’m a junior, I’m going to take college classes and, you know, just like little steps, right? So you’re learning these things. And then I graduated high school a semester early, so that winter quarter I started at North Metro Tech and my teacher there, a man by the name of John Hill, taught me like just a lot, like he and I really connected.

David Samaha: [00:08:16] And I think I reminded him a lot of himself when he was younger and he asked me to come work for him at an automotive repair shop. So I’m going to start speeding up the story now. So I went to go work for John for about four and a half years and he ended up firing me. And the termination was really he had called himself in a pickle that I think a lot of business owners do, which is they care more about the people than they do about the success of the business. And he had employed his nephew for quite a long time. And and I think, you know, no one gets it right the first time. And it was kind of in a spot where he either had to fire me or he had to fire his nephew. And he couldn’t fire his nephew because there was he was just over leveraged. His nephew knew how to do everything. And, you know, if John had, you know, it could have worked out a bunch of different ways and still been successful. But the way that it did work out was where he terminated me. He’s like, You need to go get a job in a corporate world like a dealership and see what it’s like. Was I had a bunch of ideas that he didn’t want to do. He’s very resistant towards. And I think if he saw that, you know, if I saw the other side that like his background was from a dealership, was from this like conglomerate, and those same principles are not as effective in a small business. So I went and I got a part time job at Firestone, and it was at Firestone that I really the money started making sense.

Sharon Cline: [00:09:39] Interesting.

David Samaha: [00:09:40] And there’s this gal by the name of Cindy. She’s a phenomenal service advisor. Women tend to make exceptional, exceptional service advisors and like that front facing customer dealing because your customers don’t expect you to be knowledgeable on the automotive technical side, yet they feel cared for. And if you have a woman that’s able to take like a concern and a complaint and like a goal and distill that down into a technical, like readable form for the technicians, and then take what the technicians say and then put it back and understand like layman’s terms, it’s extremely, extremely effective. So Cindy sold like $5,400 worth of work on a 2004 Toyota Corolla. And this was a Toyota Camry and this was in 2000, 13 or 14. So it’s like the car is only worth five grand. And and I was only working part time. So she was like, Hey, I’m only going to give this repair order to you if you tell me that you can get it done before you leave today because you’re off for like the next three days. And this lady is not going to be without her car for like five days. Four days. So it’s like, yeah, sure. You know, I think I can handle it. And I jumped on it like 8 a.m. and I had it done by lunch. Wow.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:51] How did you feel? Were you super proud of yourself?

David Samaha: [00:10:53] Oh, super proud of myself. And then it like started setting in. I’m like, holy smokes. This was. Almost 50 $500 and I got it done in like 4 hours.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:03] Then you could imagine sort of yourself having your own system where you are taking that 50 $400 or whatever it is to yours for yourself.

David Samaha: [00:11:11] Yeah. Yeah. And at the time, like, I just had two small goals, right? So like after I, after I lost my job, I was like, okay, I was making about 700 bucks a week. And this is after doing it like hardcore for four years, I can 700 bucks a week. So I was like, okay, so if I do like two and a half jobs a week, I can essentially make the same. Gross And then I can work at Firestone, start gaining some experience and knowledge there. And the education will make up for any type of discrepancies in that like total profit, right? So that was when I was like, Oh.

David Samaha: [00:11:43] Business, I.

David Samaha: [00:11:44] Need to do this full time. Shortly after that, I was driving home, there was this f 350 that was like blocking three lanes on bills, Ferry Road. I don’t know how he managed to do that. So I like but then the cars are going around them. So you couldn’t like he was he was stuck because everyone was stuck. But then they were going around him so he couldn’t back up. So I blocked the lane that people are using to go around them to create a pathway so he could back his truck up and proceeded to go like interview this 55 year old man and like, hey, man, like, what are you doing? He’s like, I’m broken down. I was like, Oh, okay. Like, well, that’s why I’m here. Like, let’s get you pushed out of the road. And he’s like, he’s like, Yeah, I know what the part is. Since I’m like, Oh, you’re this kind of person, like. You know what the part is that you put it off and you’re like causing all kinds of destruction out here on Bills Ferry Road with like traffic powder. And so we push it out, like push it out of the way. And I give him a ride home and he lived like half a mile from where he broke down. And he’s like, drilling me with questions is like, Oh, so like, what do you do? And I’m like, Oh, like, I work at Firestone, I fix cars on the side. It’s like, Oh, so you’re a business owner? And I was like, What kind of business do you have hitting on my business card? And it was like one of those nametags that says like, Hi, my name is.

Sharon Cline: [00:12:52] Like a business card. You put your name David on there.

David Samaha: [00:12:55] So it was just like it was just like, like I fix cars. I think that’s what I was like. I fix cars and like had my phone number.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:02] It was really cute. He remembers. I bet he remembers getting that business card. It’s kind of memorable.

David Samaha: [00:13:06] So hit him a business card. He’s like, So are you an LLC or a corporation? And I’m like, What’s the difference? Like, well, LLC has been around since 1996 and corporations have been around since 1776, and there’s only one that you want to be. And I was like, Okay, that’s interesting. It’s like, How do I do it? It’s like, well, first tell me how you how you learn so much about diesels. And until this question was asked to me, I didn’t feel like I knew anything about diesels. It was just nuts and bolts. So again, that common theme is like, it was just fun. I just did it because I enjoyed it and I was playing my own game and completely oblivious towards anything else going out in the world or potential or like I just wasn’t concerned with distractions and I told him I was like, it’s just nuts and bolts. He’s like, But yeah, like, how did you go to school for it? I was like, Oh, I went to Chattahoochee Tech, but it was actually there that I’m like, So I’m connecting these dots as he’s asking me this question. But it was actually there that I met this guy and I worked at a shop for four and a half years and like we just worked on a lot of diesels there. And he’s like, Oh, well, it’s hard to find a good diesel mechanic. He’s like. He’s like, Tell you what, he’s like, you come over later and help me put this fuel pump on and we’ll talk about it. So he ended up doing like he has a background as a business law attorney. So he did my whole business corporation and my articles of organization and all the filings and everything with the state. And then I just kept his diesel truck running.

Sharon Cline: [00:14:26] And how did you come up with diesel? I mean, it’s an obvious.

David Samaha: [00:14:28] That was his. Right. So he came off diesel. He’s like he’s like your diesel, David. And I was like, oh, like, what about this guy? That’s like Diesel Dave. He’s like, That’s a different name. He’s like, Your Diesel, David. So he got the domain, we got the dot com and got the phone number and. Then we also got Diesel David’s, which is funny because we did that seven years ago and like now I’m like been jamming with my new buddy Jared. We’re actually like best friends now. He’s an Internet marketer and. Gosh, Internet marketers. So we’re like going over different like sales copies. And the thing that always has a higher conversion rate is just like the bland, simple. Like advertising, like graphics, like it’s never anything, like, flashy or, you know.

Intro: [00:15:15] Like, hello, my name is, is.

David Samaha: [00:15:17] Yeah, no, it’s like. Yeah, no, but like the conversion. Yeah, the effective conversion rate. Like, what do people want to know? Like what problem do you solve for them? And like how do they, how do they get you to solve that problem?

Sharon Cline: [00:15:27] I love that, too, because you talked about that in your bio. You were talking about how one of the goals that you have is understanding the customer’s needs and desires. That is, it is a greater importance to you than the expected service. Talk to me a little bit about that, because I love the notion of looking at a person and not seeing dollar signs, but more seeing a problem that they have that, you know, you can tell them, I’m going to solve this for you or I’ll do the best I can.

David Samaha: [00:15:50] Yeah. So. Most like people come to the automotive shop to get their car fixed and most automotive shops fix cars. But what fails to happen is you have a lot of cars that don’t need to be fixed either. It’s not important. It’s not urgent. Combination of both of those and. The car might not be worth fixing or like if the customer is fixing the car, but then they plan on. There’s so many different scenarios. They plan on leaving the country. They don’t need to fix the car. It’s like, dude, you could actually Uber for the next two months and you might spend on what you told. Just told me your commute was like your normal routine. You might spend $400.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:35] You tell this to the customer. Do you ever tell you tell them, listen, it’s just not worth fixing right now. You might as well just hang out. Yeah. I mean, that must make you different. That must make you different from a lot of other.

Speaker3: [00:16:45] You have to understand what the customers goals are. Like, hey, like. Because you can tell them all the stuff that’s wrong with their car. Like, any mechanic can do that. But if you don’t know, like, what do you use a truck for? Because like a lot of people have have diesel trucks and they don’t need them. So it sounds like we’re talking ourselves out of business, but there’s so there’s so many diesel trucks on the road that it’s not like the people that don’t need them can can get rid of it.

Sharon Cline: [00:17:08] Why do you think people have diesel trucks that that don’t need them?

David Samaha: [00:17:12] It’s the it’s the dream. Like diesels go forever and they last a long time.

Intro: [00:17:16] I was going to ask you that question, actually, Brandon, because there is a difference between obviously what’s the difference between a diesel and non diesel engine like that was one of the things in your bio. It’s a good question. It’s a good question because I don’t know. I’m just the average Jane who does not know much about cars, who would come in and be like, I don’t know, it’s making this noise. Can you fix it? So yeah, can you tell me what the difference is between.

David Samaha: [00:17:38] Yeah. So diesels will last a long time. The main benefit of a diesel is the torque. So use it for towing, use it as a work truck. You got to really put it to work to get your value out of a diesel truck where if you’re just driving it to the grocery store, you’re just driving it to run errands. You’re not using the truck for its purpose. And it’s shorter trips that kill these trucks. So customer tells me, you know, I just throw lumber in the back of it and I go to the job site. It probably need to be in a tundra, not in a diesel truck. Diesel does have a lot of maintenance that come along with them. They’re great at towing. You’re not using it for the purpose of a diesel truck. You’re costing yourself a lot of money and maintenance.

Intro: [00:18:19] So you recommend for someone who’s just going up to publics and back, you know, in their diesel truck, maybe you could use use your money more effectively in a different kind of vehicle.

David Samaha: [00:18:29] Exactly. People want, you know, modern era hassle free experience. So if you want hassle free and you’re not putting the truck to work, you’re not making money with it, buy something that suits your needs.

Intro: [00:18:39] I mean, do you find that people respond to you in a way where they’re just sort of like quiet for a second when you tell them, here’s what we’re going to do for you, where they don’t even understand that what you’re actually trying to do is save them some money and potentially not even be used by you all. I mean, it’s such a different model, business model, and it’s refreshing and it gives me a feeling of trust.

David Samaha: [00:18:58] So something that David spoke with me about is I’m a service advisor, not a service writer. And so I’m going to advise you on what to do with your vehicle instead of just selling you a bunch of work because your truck needs it. There’s trucks that are heartbreakers, beautiful trucks, tons of power. It’s going to break. Is it going to break today? Is it going to break in two years? I don’t know. It’s going to break and it’s going to cost you a lot of money. So a get a truck that’s going to be reliable and we have a whole list of trucks we recommend, like I’ll send it to you. We do a pre-purchase inspections, all of that. What I don’t like to see is somebody put a large sum of money into a truck that’s going to break in two years. That’s not value. And ultimately, you’re going to respect me if I tell you what my honest opinion is.

Intro: [00:19:45] That’s true. I love the notion of respecting someone’s opinion where you’re not wondering what you were trying to get out of me. You know where I’m not thinking, well, of course he wants me to get all this service. Even this belt looks like it might need to be replaced because it has a small crack maybe, which I can’t even verify because I can’t see it. So, you know, there’s like, especially being a woman, I’ve had that happen to me and it did not happen to the man that I was with, you know? And I really resented it made me mad. So I appreciate that you’re kind of giving people a sense of safety.

David Samaha: [00:20:13] Exactly.

Intro: [00:20:15] Are you having any trouble at all hiring people who work on on diesel engines? I don’t know how common this is.

Speaker3: [00:20:22] So a lot of people can. Let’s back up. So everyone talks about labor shortage right now or like a lack of quality help and. If that’s what you’re seeking and that’s what you believe, then that’s all that’s going to exist. And that’s there’s nothing more to the answer for that. So all these people talking about. The struggles they have with labor. It has more to do with them than it does with other people. Because what I can tell you this is any company that has a great culture does not have a labor shortage. So if you’re talking about other people for so you can’t control that. So you’re just inducing stress and agony. It’s like a choice, like you’re choosing to be miserable. And I wake up and I’m like, I don’t want to be miserable today, so what can I change about myself or my business or our company culture that is going to attract top talent? And then from there. It’s. It’s easy. Like, I shouldn’t say easy. It’s simple. Right. So the work is hard, but the answer it’s way more simple to choose to adjust yourself and your business and know that. All right, if I create a culture around. The people, the team that the the workers are not going to be my problem. And then also, if you have a good team, then the customers are going to be less of your problem. So it’s kind of. So kind of it is a no brainer, but everyone makes it really complicated.

Intro: [00:21:47] Did you come up with this this culture philosophy in the very beginning of your business?

Speaker3: [00:21:52] No, before it was the customers. But then, you know, like energy is probably our most precious resource. So my own personal energy was being capped by how many customers. So then I had to expand. So then I hired one person and then hired another person. And then it was kind of like figuring out, okay, how do I take care of these people? So that way we can, like be our best at how we’re taking care of our customers. Because if it was like that very early realization, like, okay, the people aren’t taking care of like the team is not taking care of the customers. So just as a whole, like if people aren’t taking care of them, more people aren’t being taken care of. But if people are being taken care of, then more people are being taken care of.

Intro: [00:22:32] Right. It’s the notion of like last week I had someone on that talked about a rising tide. No. This all ships. God, take it. I can’t remember. But it’s like when everyone else is benefiting. When you’re benefiting, you benefit other people and other people benefit and everyone wins. That’s the notion of it. Rising tide sinks. No ships. All right, I’m gonna have to look it up. Sorry. I don’t have the right philosophy in my head right now, but I did want to talk to you a little bit about what you think your biggest mistake might have been along the road. Like if someone is considering doing something similar, starting their own business, what are some things that we could tell them or you could tell them that could be of benefit?

Speaker3: [00:23:12] Mm hmm. Brendan.

David Samaha: [00:23:16] All right, so you can probably.

Speaker3: [00:23:18] Tell me my mistakes better than I can tell me my mistakes. I’ll have to open up my Twitter.

Intro: [00:23:22] Friends for.

David Samaha: [00:23:24] Be calculated, not reactionary. So if you have you know, you have your heart rate. You know, you’re aware of yourself. Everybody has anxiety. We’re all humans. So something hits you and your heart rate rises. Your thoughts are running a million miles a minute and you say something that is not effective. It’s, first of all, probably not what you meant. Second of all, it doesn’t accomplish your goal. All it does is just kind of light the fire. I’m burning a bridge, so if you feel yourself in that state, take a step back, take a deep breath. Go find calm, come back, collect your thoughts, say what you need to say and be direct about it. You know, like, you know, Hey, man, you left a bunch of coolant on the floor. Everybody walked in it, tracked it throughout the whole shop. Now the whole shop is covered in coolant. You know, I took a second. Calm down, like we just need this cleaned up. And in the future, let’s as soon as there’s a spill, let’s put some oil dry on it and soak it up.

Intro: [00:24:24] Do you do you find that things that you’re experiencing at work and using those philosophies also bleed over into your personal lives, too? I would have to imagine it’s almost like training yourself reprograming yourself not just in business, but in the rest of your life.

David Samaha: [00:24:39] For me personally, I don’t have this like dominant persona about myself. I’m very direct and that catches a lot of people off guard. I have no problem saying what I mean, and it’s not an aggressive way. I’m just telling you how I see it and what it is. And here’s the next step. And you’d be surprised that first of all, the level of respect you gain, but the reactions and the surprise you get, especially for somebody that looks like me.

Intro: [00:25:07] What do you mean, looks like you? Nobody can see you.

David Samaha: [00:25:10] Understand? I’m just.

Speaker3: [00:25:11] I’m just. Let’s unpack that.

Intro: [00:25:13] Yeah.

David Samaha: [00:25:14] I’m just. I’m just a goofy 25 year old guy that, you know, people don’t expect it to come out of my mouth whenever I’m like, Oh, hey, man, that kind of looks like it needs a little more work put into that. Like, you know.

Intro: [00:25:26] What do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions of your industry are.

David Samaha: [00:25:31] That we’re that were con artist that’s the biggest one people have this this notion about mechanic shops which I get it you know whenever your car breaks it’s high stress and you know, they’ve been burned. Like I’ve had so many customers that say like this shop said my truck was fixed, I paid them $10,000. And the problem is still there. I mean, we don’t do that if we don’t fix your problem. There is no we don’t fix your problem. We fix.

Speaker3: [00:25:57] It. Yeah. There has to be an exchange of value. If we can’t provide value, then why are you providing money? Because all money is is just a measurement of exchange value.

Intro: [00:26:08] Ooh, hang on. For business people, I need to unpack that one. I love that because really I have some I have thought this and somebody mentioned to me recently that maybe this isn’t the case. But I do believe deep down that you either honor people or you honor money like there’s a real fight there between what’s most important to you, because you can you can really value money enough that you’ll take advantage of people or you can value people enough that you would never do that. And the money that comes is as genuinely meant to be yours, if that makes sense.

Speaker3: [00:26:42] I think. I don’t know. You can lead on this one, Brendan.

David Samaha: [00:26:45] All right. So I’ll simplify it down. You have a you have those electrical bucket trucks that they use. They pull up to the power lines. They have the bucket that goes up and that guy, you know, fixes whatever’s going on up there or runs line. Those trucks can make 2000 to $5000 a day. And so if it’s broken down, they’re losing money every single day. If we’re able to, you know, get the problem and figure out the solution, act quickly, get that truck back on the road. We provided an immense amount of value. We’ve solved the problem and to them, it’s worth paying the price to get it done.

Speaker3: [00:27:20] So I really do like money, but what I like more than money is what it signifies. Right? So when you talk about providing value and like money is just a measurement of exchange value. What Brendan was saying there is that if you can solve a problem. That is a costly problem. It’s worth what? It’s worth money. It’s worth a lot of money if you can solve. A lot of really costly problems. It’s worth a lot, a lot of money. So inversely, if you can if you can solve a problem that’s not worth much money, then unless you just do it for a bunch of bunch of bunch of people, you’re like, it’s not going to be successful. So I think earlier we talked about like advice for like people getting into business or you want to circle back to that because I think it fits into this conversation perfectly.

Intro: [00:28:18] I love that.

Speaker3: [00:28:20] What was the question?

Intro: [00:28:22] What were you talking about? Like, how.

Speaker3: [00:28:24] So? Just like choosing. Like. So if someone was like, all right, how do I play my own game? Like, how do I be me and do something that is, like, beneficial? It’s okay. Find out what, like, what problems exist that you can solve being you. And then after you get, like, a list amount. Just start with ten. And then out of those ten, be like, okay. Which these are the most costly problems. And then give that to like give that to your friends. To not friends that are similar to you. Like friends that are different, like give it to one of your parents. Gave it to like five different people. Be like, hey, would you rate these on a scale? Would you number them 1 to 10 on like what would be the biggest headache and the most costly? You can frame it different ways. So like frustration, that’s usually equates to money. Speed usually equates to money or just like actual direct costs. Like if. Let’s say your talent is. Narrating and you’re the problem exists is that people are afraid of it or you have a bunch of different problems around public speaking. So what I would go directly to is like who are the most successful peoples that have issues, public speaking? And I would put my thumb right on the tech sector. You have all these people that are extremely successful. They make loads and loads of money and they are scared, like spotless. So then I would transition from being a narrator to being a public relations agent, and I would market myself as an agency to as a public relations agent to the tech sector.

Speaker3: [00:29:53] And I would perform on stage. I would answer. It’s like I would get like hyperfocus on like understanding, like who they are and what they do and what they provide. And then I would do all of their interviews for them or alongside of them, and you can let them know that like, hey, we also have a coaching program, so there’s just a bunch of ancillaries you can go with. Like we also have a coaching program to get you to do what I’m doing, but I want you to know I don’t expect you to do that in the beginning. Like, that’s why I’m here. That’s why you’re hiring me. But we’re going to get you up to speed to where you can, like if you want to be on stage in front of ten people or 10,000, it won’t make a difference to you. Just like when you first learned code, whether it was one line of code or whether that code is 100 lines. It’s like, you know, when it does what it does, it doesn’t matter if you’re asleep. It doesn’t matter like that code is leveraged, it’s going to run and it’s going to multiply and it’s going to do more than what 10,000 people could do. And you’re capable of the same.

Intro: [00:30:44] If you’re just joining us, I’m speaking with David Samaha and Brendan Canal from Diesel, David Inc. And I loved that because it it’s very creative. My brain doesn’t work that way. So I always am fascinated by people who can think beyond well, most people can think beyond what my brain does. But I’m just saying that was cool because I never considered being a voiceover artist and audiobook narrator going to approach anyone who struggles with that. I’m always just kind of doing my own thing and praying someone hires me, which is not a very successful business model. Just to let you know, in case you’re wondering out there.

Speaker3: [00:31:16] I know Church is an extremely successful business model, so maybe there’s something in prayer.

Intro: [00:31:20] Oh, maybe so. I mean, it’s really, really marry it all together. Pray, hope that I get business.

Speaker3: [00:31:27] Take a bunch of action and strategy.

Intro: [00:31:31] Sorry. Do you find that that’s actually the most rewarding thing, is being able to take a problem that someone brings to you and kind of think beyond a general way of fixing something? I mean, I love that you think deeply about it and not not just here’s here’s the knocking sound that I have. But you’re actually wondering what they’re even using the truck for. I mean, is that what you find the most rewarding?

Speaker3: [00:31:55] Um. So that’s what makes it sustainable. Right. So when you think about like if you’re actually able to, that’s what provides value. So sustainability is directly proportional to value provided and so so is money. So if you can provide more value, then you’re going to be more sustainable and you’re going to make more money, simply put. So if we’re able to actually analyze. Because like, people are just focused on what they do, right? They’re not thinking about their car like they probably haven’t a lot of these cars they bought eight years ago. Right. So Brendon talks about people having diesel trucks that don’t need to have them. They had a purpose at one point. They made a good decision. Right. But that good decision might have been to go on a camping trip with their family or, you know, a three month thing. And they did that. But then they still had their diesel truck seven years later. Is this just because it doesn’t make sense to get something for three months and then get rid of it?

David Samaha: [00:32:51] One of my favorite questions to ask is How long are you planning on having this truck? Bingo. Some people ten, 20 years. I want this truck to last, like be a lifetime truck. Other people, it’s just got to get me through the year. Those are two conversations of, hey, here’s what you need to do to make sure that you’re not putting an engine in this thing in five years. And here’s what’s going to get you by. And here are some little extra maintenance items you’re going to want to do just to make it so you don’t have any catastrophic failures. Understanding the goal and educating the customer to most important things. Yeah, hands down.

Intro: [00:33:26] That’s so interesting. I love to the notion of asking someone because because I just went through a car issue with my Prius, which is a total opposite of a diesel. By the way.

Speaker3: [00:33:36] We work on Priuses, two in 100. We build the batteries in them.

Intro: [00:33:38] Actually, that’s. Do you really? Yeah. I’m so glad I met you. So let’s talk a little bit about this. This is my favorite vehicle. We have a relationship, but I wanted to ask you, actually, it’s a good it’s a good time to bring up what exactly what exactly do you provide for customers? Like if they’re listening right now and they have a car issue or if they don’t, just tell me what you do.

David Samaha: [00:34:00] All right. So customer calls, I answer the phone. Hey, how’s it going?

Intro: [00:34:05] We’re talking deep, literal. Let’s go a little.

Speaker3: [00:34:09] Down.

Intro: [00:34:09] Here. What are the services you provide?

David Samaha: [00:34:11] How’s it going? What can I do for you? It’s Brendan. And they’re like, you know, hey, you know, it’s this. This is wrong in my car. I’m like, okay, great. What’s your car doing? You know, you know, it doesn’t turn on it. It, you know, it drives and it shuts off. You know, I need to understand what’s going on. And then within that question is the circumstance. You know, I’m going 55 miles an hour. I floor it because I want to pass somebody and it shuts off every time. And I’m like, okay, so it happens at 55. Technician needs to know that they got to go on the highway like all that next step is educating. So, hey, based off what you’re telling me, I think it could be X-Y-Z. Obviously, a technician needs to look at it. And, you know, once we get an idea and a game plan, we’ll let you know if it’s a multistep process or if it’s, you know, this takes care of your problem. And, you know, the biggest thing is, you know, people get frustrated when people get frustrated due to lack of knowledge. Lack of knowledge leads to frustration every single time. So if you’re being ethical and, you know, educate, educate, educate, I can’t emphasize it enough. I’ve had customers that have had horrible, horrible experiences. They come to our shop and they keep coming back. They keep coming back because they understand what the next step looks like.

Intro: [00:35:25] Knowledge is power, in my opinion. So when I understand, I almost have empathy for what it is that you’re going through and you have it for me, you know, it’s like opens up some kind of it’s not such a mystery. And I just, I don’t know, I like being able to go and explain to my friend. Oh, yeah, he told me, it’s this, this, this. And I actually understand what I’m saying exactly.

David Samaha: [00:35:45] Because example was like oil leaks, you know, whenever you have a leak, your system is not making full pressure. We’re going to do this first round of repair. We’re going to repair the most obvious and the highest up because oil drains down. It covers other things up. So once we get that sealed up, we’ll clean it off, drive it. If another oil leak appears, the engine’s making more pressure inside of it now so it could be leaking from somewhere that previously wasn’t. We’ll keep working through it and, you know, let them know like we try to get them all at the first time. But it could be a two or three time comeback and we’ll keep working through it.

Intro: [00:36:16] What do you think? You know, the show’s fearless formula. And so one of the goals of this show is for other people who are listening to kind of understand maybe some of the techniques that you all have used to get through some setbacks or some surprises you weren’t expecting. What’s something that you’ve kind of had to figure out as a as a surprise in your business? We’re so quiet. Oh, my God.

David Samaha: [00:36:40] All right. So this is a hard one to say as a business, but sometimes you have to fire customers. And David can chime in on another setback that if he wants to. But there’s some customers that, you know, you you can’t fulfill their needs, you know, whether it be, you know, their expectation is too high for what their truck is capable of doing, for the amount of money they want to put into it. I don’t know a simpler way of saying it.

Intro: [00:37:09] What would you say? How is the response with customers when you do that? Is it terrible? Is it as dramatic as I’m thinking it is in my mind?

Speaker3: [00:37:15] Oh, normally there is relieved as you are because like what’s happening is like both parties are choosing to continue to entangle and both parties want want a solution. They want out and. Sorry. Let me clarify that. Both parties want a solution and they also want out. Just most people think that the solution is the only way out. And sometimes you just have to pick one. And that is like so that would be terminating the relationship. And whether that involves a refund or doesn’t involve a refund or. You know, for me, the number one thing is like reputation management because like, hey, just because we have a disagreement doesn’t mean that you’re wrong. It doesn’t mean that I’m wrong. It just is. So if that can be the outcome of like, hey, not everything always works out, then they’re less likely to share their opinion as a fact. Right? So like, and that’s all a review is, is just essentially a. A fact of reality. Right. But it’s treated as a fact of the business. And I think that’s where it’s so key to. When you’re. Firing a customer. You have to be empathetic towards what they’ve experienced because they don’t care about what you did or they don’t care about what was.

Speaker3: [00:38:41] What was given or, you know, all the extra stuff that you did above and beyond to try and make things go smoothly until they know that you care. So if you can meet them with that and then normally, you know, they’re going to want some type of financial compensation and which again, is understandable, right? If there was value provided, then you charge for it. If there’s no value provided that you don’t charge for it. The gray area with at least in most industries, is where there’s a disconnect in the understanding of what value is provided. So it’d be like vehicle comes in with five issues. We take care of four of them. Like you could go to any other shop, get a second point. Yes. These are not problems anymore. But that fifth one, it in the customer’s eyes negates the other four. So that would be an example where, you know, and a lot of times it’s a pattern. It’s not just one time you have the experience of the customer and something. Okay? The second time like now we’ve noticed it happens the third time. Then you have to like you have to terminate that relationship because it’s going to cost so much in energy again, which is the most precious resource that we have.

Speaker3: [00:39:53] Even more than. I mean, it’s kind of related to health, but it’s the energy is even more than health, right? So. Like if you’re costing your team energy and if you’re costing yourself energy, then how you’re showing up for your team, how your team is able to show up for customers, how your team is able to just, you know, you feel it. It’s a whole vibe inside the entire business. So. It’s not your it’s not enjoyable, but it’s necessary. Like if you can zoom out, you can see like how this relationship, the, the toxicity of it is actually damaging the growth of the company because it’s affecting the individuals inside of it. Then at that point the money doesn’t matter as much like the money, it’s always going to matter. And yes, but then one customer now it doesn’t matter. I mean, at least for automotive, like I can’t speak for like houses or you know, it’s like we’re higher ticket items, right? But like in the sense, yeah, if you’re just going to continue to be a headache for that customer, they’re going to be a headache for you. The relationship doesn’t need to continue.

Intro: [00:40:52] What was it like during the pandemic when also the cars were the value of cars was so inflated or high? I don’t know if it’s inflated, but high. I know that I was looking at potentially a new vehicle when my car was giving me trouble and I was like, heck no, I can’t afford it used vehicle right now. So what was that like for your business?

David Samaha: [00:41:11] Yeah. So new trucks, you know, you can easily pay $100,000 for a new pickup truck. 100,000. You could buy a crappy house or a brand new truck like okay. Or you could buy a used truck but 20 into it and or your current truck but you know a chunk of money into it and you have a truck that I got away. People like to say, Oh, it’ll be like new. No, it’s still a 20 year old truck. But the weak the weak points have been taken care of. You may have some failures here and there. Work through it. It’s better than forking out 100 grand. Yeah, and.

Speaker3: [00:41:47] No, it’s not going to be like new. And it’s actually better that it’s not going to be like new because you go out and you buy a brand new vehicle and it’s in for warranty work within the first month or two. So you don’t want that.

David Samaha: [00:41:57] Oh, exactly. And so, you know, working with customers, setting expectation accordingly is super important. You know, the, you know, talking about, you know, firing customers. On the flip side of that, you know, your biggest challenge is handling a customer who’s super frustrated. And it’s that that first time you have that situation, how you handle it sets the relationship for the course of the future. And, you know, you know, you you have customers where the timeline doesn’t work out or part doesn’t arrive. Like there’s other logistical steps to fixing your truck other than putting the part on. And, you know, we do our best to meet everybody’s goal. Things happen, you know, we’re human. So how you handle, how you communicate, you know, moving forward, they may be frustrated, but they’re going to come back because they respect it. You didn’t treat them poorly. You understood where they’re at. You explain the scenario of what happened and you know, you let them know what the goal is and how you’re going to accomplish it. They educate.

Intro: [00:43:05] Okay, well, if anyone out there was listening and wanted to get in touch with you, what’s the best way for them to find you besides just Google Diesel? David Not Dave Diesel.

Speaker3: [00:43:13] David Google is pretty easy.

Intro: [00:43:17] You’re everywhere, though. You’re on all the social media. Do you do tik tok things? Do you do any of those things for your business?

David Samaha: [00:43:23] Not yet.

Speaker3: [00:43:24] We’ll do them.

Intro: [00:43:24] Yeah, I know. I’m not embracing it either.

Speaker3: [00:43:26] I’m going to get moved in first and then we’ll make silly videos.

Intro: [00:43:31] Listen, it’s a thing.

Speaker3: [00:43:32] We’ll get paid with our likes or something like that. Whatever the influencers do nowadays.

Intro: [00:43:36] All right. Best way to get in touch with you is. Is through Google Diesel, David.

Speaker3: [00:43:40] Through Google. Diesel. David or Diesel. David’s or mechanic house cars.com or car convenience dot com or mobile auto mechanic dot com. There’s a bunch of them that all I think.

Intro: [00:43:49] So there are a bunch of them.

David Samaha: [00:43:50] Or a diesel mechanic near.

Speaker3: [00:43:51] Me. The diesel mechanic near me. If you’re in Georgia or Washington State or wherever. Like so for for a while we’re getting like three calls a week out of Washington State because some business decided to create their Google listing on mobile auto mechanic dot com and that’s our website it goes like if you search mobile auto mechanic dot com it goes to diesel datacom.

Intro: [00:44:15] But somebody put that out there.

Speaker3: [00:44:16] And so that was like, yeah. So when you search like diesel mechanic near me and Seattle, Washington, that’ll pull up this place in Kent, Washington, and then you click on the website and it goes to us. If you click on the phone number, it goes to them, but they don’t ever pick up the phone. I don’t know how they have a four star rating because they don’t ever answer like I’ve called them. Like I’m like tried to like sell our domain to them because they’re getting traffic. Yeah. Like, you know, just give me 15 grand and I’ll release the domain to you or something. I don’t know. But no, I haven’t been able to reach them, but their customers are reaching us.

Intro: [00:44:49] The Wonders of the Internet.

David Samaha: [00:44:50] My favorite search parameter that we have is about every two months I get a call from Great Britain. Oh.

Speaker3: [00:44:57] We’ll get yeah, we’ll get some inquiries. Like we’re going to have people like you need to step up your SEO game. It’s like we already have like it used to be worse. Oh, we used to get business from all over the United States and Great Britain and Canada and now it’s just like weird stuff like that Kent Washington thing because someone messed up.

Intro: [00:45:13] But so. So they would. Do they not know they’re dialing a United States number? I’m just.

Speaker3: [00:45:18] Curious. Yeah, I know. So I don’t know what’s going on there other than if they’re using a VPN and they have it set to Atlanta, Georgia. I think that would be.

Intro: [00:45:25] What goes on there. Are they always like, hey, where are you guys or No, you have to say it with a British accent. Hey, why are you guys.

Speaker3: [00:45:33] Hopped up on it and you take a look?

Intro: [00:45:36] Did you call it off on it? That’s what they call it, right? Yeah.

Speaker3: [00:45:38] Right. And then the boot. Yeah.

Intro: [00:45:40] Oh, my goodness. Sorry, I’m chuckling. Okay, well, this has been fascinating. I’ve really enjoyed chatting with you all because there’s a lot about this industry, I don’t know, but it makes me feel like there are people out there that are looking out for the customer, not just for the dollars. And I really do appreciate that notion.

Speaker3: [00:45:56] Yeah, thanks.

Intro: [00:45:57] You’re welcome. And everyone out there, thank you for listening to Fear this formula. And this is Sharon Klein reminding you that with wisdom and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day. I love that you said that it was still recording.