The Institute’s Leading Edge Podcast

The Institute’s Leading Edge Podcast is where forward-thinking Automotive Service and Repair Shop Owners come to sharpen their skills, expand their knowledge, and gain an edge in today’s competitive market. Hosted by The Institute’s team of seasoned consultants and leaders with decades of real-world experience, you’ll get direct, actionable advice tailored to the unique challenges of running and growing an auto repair business.

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154 - Process, People, and Profit: Inside JB Import Auto with Ryan von Steinen
October 6, 2025 - 00:37:41

Show Summary:
What happens when a motorsport kid with a rebuilt BMW and a shattered leg trades the wrench for the front counter and still can’t shake the need for speed? Jimmy Lea sits down with Ryan von Steinen of JB Import Auto in St. Petersburg to trace a career detour that became a superpower: pairing deep technical fluency with world-class customer care. Ryan opens the hood on a shop that balances everyday Euro work with a thriving Rolls-Royce/Bentley program, powered by a clear org chart and an estimator-driven workflow. He shares how a living SOP “Bible,” weekly reviews, and photo-rich DVIs protect margins and build trust. Recruiting is a sport of its own: Trello benches, school partnerships, and “grow-your-own” apprentices. With a five-year plan to stretch a quirky legacy facility to $6.7M, Ryan argues the industry needs real certification, likely nudged by insurers, as ADAS and EV complexity spikes. He closes with blunt succession advice: don’t DIY the deal, get experts, and if it isn’t written, it didn’t happen.

Host(s):
Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development

Guest(s):
Ryan von Steinen, Chief Operating Officer of JB Import Automotive Repair

Show Highlights:
[00:03:34] - Ryan’s love for cars and motorsport started young—autocross at 14—and he pursued high-performance training at the University of Northwestern Ohio.
[00:05:47] - A serious accident two weeks into his dealership job ended wrenching for a season and nudged him toward advising/management where his tech knowledge still shines.
[00:11:24] - After Porsche-heavy experience and a tough management stint, Ryan lands at JB Import, where he’s spent nearly 12 years, holds a small ownership stake, and is executing a five-year growth plan.
[00:13:35] - The shop’s SOP “Bible” is a living document—reviewed weekly and refined with team feedback—so processes evolve instead of collecting dust.
[00:15:23] - Clear org chart: six techs plus a coach/CEO, service manager, two advisors, and an estimator who also handles parts, inventory, and estimate building.
[00:16:41] - RO checklist discipline and an estimator bridge reduce misses between techs and advisors and keep customer communication consistent.
[00:33:03] - DVI standards: minimum photo counts (even on new cars), include positives—not just problems—and always capture four corners and the instrument cluster to prevent disputes.
[00:24:33] - Capacity and mix matter: maximizing one facility first; exotic ROs can be 3–4x Euro “daily” work, but big hurricane projects can skew monthly optics.
[00:20:52] - Recruiting is proactive: Trello follow-ups, open-door visits, and active involvement in local high schools and tech programs to “grow your own.”
[00:26:49] - Industry wish list: real certification/standards (perhaps insurer-driven) as ADAS/EV complexity rises, and solid succession planning with expert guidance and thorough documentation.

In every business journey, there are defining moments or challenges that build resilience and milestones that fuel growth. We’d love to hear about yours! What lessons, breakthroughs, or pivotal experiences have shaped your path in the automotive industry?
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Episode Transcript DisclaimerThis transcript was generated using artificial intelligence and may contain errors. If you notice any inaccuracies, please contact us at marketing@wearetheinstitute.com.

Episode Transcript:
Jimmy Lea: Hello friend. My name is Jimmy Lee. I am with the Institute and this is the Leading Edge podcast. Joining me today is my very good friend, Ryan von Stein, with JB Import Auto Outta St. Petersburg, Florida. Ryan, thank you so much for joining. How are you this morning?
Ryan von Steinen: Excellent, Jimmy. Happy to be here. So thanks for having me.
Jimmy Lea: Oh man, this is awesome. So, St. Pete is probably the one of the only places that my luggage ever got lost. Here I was flying from Vegas to St. Pete and right about mid states. It hangs a hard left. The plane does. Everybody feels it hard left. We were flying into Dallas and then from Dallas we were going into St.
Jimmy Lea: Pete with Tampa. Yeah. And, and as we're coming in towards Dallas Hard Bank left. They said, Dallas is having an ice storm. We can't land there. We're going to Denver. And I was like, oh, okay, great. We're going to Denver. Never fear your flights have already been rescheduled. When you get on the ground, it's all set.
Jimmy Lea: Everybody's good to go. Your luggage will go wherever it is your final destination is. I was like, oh, sweet. Great. So I land in town. I have 45 minutes. From land, get off the plane, not really four, five minutes. It was more like 15 minutes and I walked right onto my next plane. So I really went from gate to gate and I was right on the next plane, which was wonderful.
Jimmy Lea: So I get to Tampa, Hey, can you scan and my codes and see where my luggage is? 'cause it hasn't come out on the conveyor yet. It's not in the oversized, and I'm looking for my booth. It's not there. And she says, yeah, I figured with you. Oh, I'm so sorry that somewhere over Denver, your luggage broke hands.
Jimmy Lea: They were holding hands up to Denver, but then they weren't holding hands anymore. Half of it went to Dallas. The other half is in Chicago. I wasn't even going to Chicago, but it's in Chicago. It's like, all right. All right. So what's the plan? Well, half of it'll be here by midnight. The other half will come about, four 30 in the morning.
Jimmy Lea: I said, great. I'll come back for that one half that comes at midnight, because I need that. That's very important. It was the whole booth. Here I am at a trade show. I have to have the booth. Right. You gotta Yeah. Half show off who you are.
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah. I figured if you're traveling, that's it.
Jimmy Lea: Right. So I had a car, I came back, I got the booth, put it in the truck. I took it over to the, trade show, and the next morning my second package showed up in a clear plastic bag. It had gone full blown yard sale. Oh, everything was strewn out all over the place. Oh, so hilarious.
Ryan von Steinen: Dang, man. I'm sorry. Not a good Tampa reception.
Jimmy Lea: Hey. No. Tampa was phenomenal. They brought it all over there. It wasn't Tampa's fault. I got mad props for Southwest as I showed up to pick up my booth at midnight. She hands me a voucher for like $150 off your next flight. Okay. Yeah. Oh, sweet. There's loyalty for life. And I do. I fly Southwest everywhere I go, so it's a good thing.
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah, I get it, man. That makes sense.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Loyalty. It goes a long way.
Ryan von Steinen: It does, man does. I'm stuck there too. So,
Jimmy Lea: hey, so Ryan, how did you get into the automotive industry? What does that look like when you started? Are you a baby sweeping the floors or you in high school? What's the catalyst here that gets you involved?
Ryan von Steinen: I liked cars from really young age, but I had, my mom's side of the family was into the Indianapolis 500, and I grew up in Michigan. And it was like a grandfather that grew up listening to it on the radio, so that was always a big event every year and somewhere around when I was maybe about eight, my dad autocross to used BMW and that really just started it where I was obsessed with motorsport, most especially, but cars and motorsports, you know?
Jimmy Lea: I love it. How old were you when you learned to drive?
Ryan von Steinen: I learned to dry when I was about 12 in the woods up on some dirt roads. Yeah. And I taught across when I was 14, so yeah,
Jimmy Lea: dude. I love it. I love it. Yeah. I was nine and we went to Canna, Utah. We drove from the house to the barn and back. If you went another halfway that was a mile and one summer we put 10,000 miles on this little 73 Toyota Corolla.
Jimmy Lea: Holy cow. Go into the barn and back, dude. I mean, holy cow. At nine years old, you thought we, we had freedom. That was freedom. Driving was freedom.
Ryan von Steinen: 10,000 miles of freedom. That's amazing.
Jimmy Lea: Oh yeah. Well, we stayed there for a month, so it, yeah, it was dawn until dusk that we were just driving that and grandma and grandpa loved it.
Jimmy Lea: It was, oh man, it was such great, it was cool. Didn't. So you started, with BMW Motocross.
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah. Yeah, like my dad was like lightly into autocross. We always had used BMWs. And then I went to a high school in Michigan that had a pretty great autobody program. So I did that and I had an awesome instructor and I redid a old E 21, the first three series BMW, my senior year with that program.
Ryan von Steinen: But I was more interested in mechanical work. Okay. And all those autobody schools have. You know, UTI and WTI at the time, all these training institutes that come around. So I signed up and went to the University of Northwestern Ohio. They had a degree you could get with it, so I was interested in that.
Ryan von Steinen: So I haven't applied science degree with them, in high performance automotive. 'cause they have a high performance segment there too. Which was really my interest, you know? So,
Jimmy Lea: so, so you get out of school, are you specializing in euros? Are you specializing in the BMW or what.
Ryan von Steinen: I thought I was, but no, you know, I don't think I was really that kind of person.
Ryan von Steinen: And I got a job quickly at a dealership that was a Ford Lincoln and BMW dealer, kind of an odd combo. And I wanted to be at the BMW dealer, but they hired me in the Ford. But about two weeks. And then I got in a really bad accident and I was not a technician again for over a year. Like I, I got hit in a crosswalk, so, I spent a lot of time on crutches.
Jimmy Lea: Oh, wow. Oh, so it wasn't a, an it wasn't a thing in the shop that you got hurt. You were walking across the street and got hit?
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah. Oh. So two weeks into my career out of tech school. Right. Yeah, I got hit in a crosswalk. I six plates on the left side of my head and a rod in my right leg from my knee, my ankle.
Ryan von Steinen: So I did a lot of crutches the next year and
Jimmy Lea: whoa, you know, were, you
Ryan von Steinen: did different stuff.
Jimmy Lea: Was it a year of therapy to get you back into the shop?
Ryan von Steinen: It, you know, the head was really pretty straightforward. The leg, it's things like, they told me six months in I could start walking on it and I went back a week later.
Ryan von Steinen: I'm like, something's really wrong. And what had happened is the bone had broken in like a pi seat pie piece, you know, like a piece of pizza. Yes. And the front edge healed and an x-ray is one dimensional. And it saw that, so they said he could walk on it, but it broke again. And I bent the rod I was walking on, all the weight was on this rod.
Ryan von Steinen: So they had to take that out and put a 12 millimeter rod in and yeah. So it was some stuff like that and
Jimmy Lea: Dang.
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah.
Jimmy Lea: Took a while, dude. That's rough. Yeah. Alright, so, so let's get past the, yeah. Crutches. The era of the season of crutches. Yes. You're now back in the shop, you're turning a wrench again.
Jimmy Lea: Life is good. And then what, where, what's next?
Ryan von Steinen: Well, I mean, I'll continue on where I was at there. It's like I started a Napa parts job and I really wanted to move out of Michigan. Michigan in 2007 was not a great place to be with everything that was going on, in the country, but most especially that, that state.
Ryan von Steinen: And I had an uncle in Reno, Nevada, so I moved out there and I started bunching part-time. And it never, the business kind of fell apart. I never pre progressed in a full-time gig, so I got a service advising gig there. At a place that did tons of Porsche because Porsche, north America used to be in Reno before it was in Atlanta.
Ryan von Steinen: So this is a huge old Porsche town. So yeah, I got into Porsches there being a service advisor and moved into management and chased a girl to Florida. And then, ended up down here and I've been down here 13 years, so,
Jimmy Lea: well, congratulations. Yeah. And how did it work out with the girl?
Ryan von Steinen: Good. We're married.
Ryan von Steinen: We have a 7-year-old. It's great, man. You know, we grew up three miles apart, but we never knew each other until I was 26. So, she went to a different school, you know, she was just like right on that line. Went to a different school, so.
Jimmy Lea: Oh, isn't that wild? It is. That's wild. Well, congratulations.
Jimmy Lea: Good job. Congrats on winning the race, catching the girl.
Ryan von Steinen: It was fun.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Getting married, having a child, boy, or girl.
Ryan von Steinen: I have a 7-year-old boy.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah, boy, congrats. That's always awesome, man. It's, does he have the same passion for cars that you did growing up? He
Ryan von Steinen: doesn't, but there's an oppositional kind of thing going on right now, you know?
Ryan von Steinen: Okay. So there's lots of things he does that are racing or mechanical, but he's like, no, I don't like race cars. You know, that's what he tells me. But
Jimmy Lea: that's fine. Yeah. That's okay. You like what you like I, I learned that with my son, baseball. Yeah. It's like watching paint dry. Unless my boy is playing with my boy.
Jimmy Lea: Sure. If my son's playing, I am in, I'm front row, I'm cheering. I am the baseball dad Outside of that man, it's tough.
Ryan von Steinen: For me that's riding rollercoasters. 'cause my son's obsessed with rollercoasters. He wants to be a rollercoaster engineer. And so I don't like riding really, but I've put up with some to Yes.
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah, you do it for him and that's exactly
Jimmy Lea: why you do it. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And I'm good for about one rollercoaster every other hour.
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah, that'd be about my rate too. It's tough. My stomach. So we're right by Bush Gardens and he's, I mean he's met like the president there and you know, he's really like, been there a lot and experienced a lot.
Ryan von Steinen: And Bush Gardens has been really. Awesome. So,
Jimmy Lea: dude, that's rad. That's so cool. Yeah. Congrats man. Alright, so now you move, you get into the advisor role. Yeah. Do you like the advisor role? Do you wish you were still wrenching? What's your take on? No,
Ryan von Steinen: I mean, I think that's kind of what I discovered after school and breaking my leg and having kind of some time is like, I really liked working on race cars, right?
Ryan von Steinen: Like, Jimmy comes into the pits, he's like, man, it's loose all the time on these corners, and I make an adjustment. You're like, oh, it drives so much better. I love that. I don't love working on your Ford Explorer and putting front shocks on it. So I had a customer service background before automotive in this indoor sports facility that I worked at.
Ryan von Steinen: And it kind of fell to me where I was like, excuse me, fell together really easily for me. 'cause I was like, all right, this is customer service. And I know the car slash mechanical technician element enough, right? So it really felt like powerful. Like, all right, I had this training to be a tech, I'm not gonna be a tech it seems like, but I can still use this.
Ryan von Steinen: And I've used it consistently for 20 years.
Jimmy Lea: Good for you. Good for you. That's cool. That's really good. That's really good. Well, congrats on being able to stay in the business, stay in the industry. So you move to Florida, you start working, as service advising for. Yeah, the
Ryan von Steinen: shop. Well, yeah, actually I saw in Reno we did a lot of Porsche engines there.
Ryan von Steinen: Worked for a very reputable builder and we had a customer in Sarasota that ran a shop. And he, I came down here and interviewed before I moved. We were friendly with each other and he gave me a job as their service manager. So I ran a shop in Sarasota for a while. That was really, I thought, gonna be like the deal.
Ryan von Steinen: It was the best group I've ever had at technicians. But, the owner. Wasn't into it, you know, maybe how we see some other people that are passionate, you know? And so it really spoiled it for three of us, and we all quit in a three month span. Oh wow. So, yeah, it was really tough. But that moved me to JB Import and that's where I've been for almost 12 years now.
Ryan von Steinen: And so I'm happy, you know, things happened for a reason, but at the time it was like, man, what a crew to separate, you know?
Jimmy Lea: Well, for sure. And did you get any of that, crews, any of that crew with you at JB?
Ryan von Steinen: No, bummer. Really like three important people from there did gather up together in Sarasota, but that's about an hour south of me and I liked this area, so I was like, I'm gonna stay up here.
Ryan von Steinen: But I'm happy that three of them, they were able to form another company. And good, I've really done well, so, yeah. Congrats. That's nice.
Jimmy Lea: So you interview with, JB Imports and this is where you've been for, did you say 12 years?
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah. December would be 12 years.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah, dude, congrats.
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. And what does that look like for you now?
Ryan von Steinen: I have a small bit of ownership here. I'm looking towards the future. Yeah. I have a, you know, a pretty aggressive growth plan for where I want to be in five years. Okay. I'd love to make it to be a multi shop owner, but I think being. Efficient with one shop is more important to me than having multiple, right?
Ryan von Steinen: Like, I wanna produce the max I can here before I look outside. So,
Jimmy Lea: yeah, you know, that's very admirable. 'cause if you, hone in the process, if you perfect that process for the single location becomes easier for you to now expand it out and do it at other locations as well.
Ryan von Steinen: Totally. And I have a procedure guide I put a lot of work into, and that's like why I keep coming back to it, to like change something, update.
Ryan von Steinen: I'm like, this is gonna, it's like the Bible, right? Like for the business. It is, we're gonna need this a bunch. Yeah.
Jimmy Lea: It's a living document. It's something that you go to an update. Anytime you have a company meeting, you have a company, gathering. Everybody says, Hey, you know what? I come from this shop over here.
Jimmy Lea: And we did things like. This. Alright, well let's analyze it. Is it better than, what we currently do? Or is it maybe take a little bit longer?
Ryan von Steinen: We've totally done that. We hired a tech about 18 months ago and he had a process that he told us about from another shop about how they prepared vehicles for maintenance before they came into the shop, and we totally adopted our own version of that.
Ryan von Steinen: So yeah, it's this huge document I take a lot of pride in, but it's open to anybody to interpret and hey Jimmy, this is what I think would work better, and that's really what I want. Right. Is that kind of feedback from people.
Jimmy Lea: And how well do the technicians adopt this living document? Do they go in and make suggestions or edits to make, to improve it or do they come to you with those edits?
Ryan von Steinen: They typically come to me, so we do a weekly team meeting and we review one procedure a week, and it's, there's ones that are more repetitive than others, but, and then I do a one-on-one meeting with each person monthly. So like things will come up in there, you know, where they're like, Hey, I thought about this, right?
Ryan von Steinen: This is how we're doing X and I really think it could be better.
Jimmy Lea: Dude, I love it.
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah. And I'm just trying to make that culture where it's open. Right. But I want it to be open where you can come with something constructive, right. Not just this thing is crap or whatever. Yeah, some good feedback about how we can improve it.
Jimmy Lea: Oh, I love it. I love it. That's awesome. Congrats, man. So what does this shop look like today? What does JB Imports look like today? Now, bays, techs, advisors.
Ryan von Steinen: So we have six technicians and my partner Mike, is, he's CEO, but we call it coach every opportunity. And I say that 'cause we do a good amount of old Bentley and Rolls Royce work, and Mike has worked in that field since the late seventies.
Ryan von Steinen: And we have, maybe not young and age, but experience with those vintage cars. So Mike's really working with them frequently about. Those systems, on those older vehicles. So there's six techs and Mike, there are, there's a service manager, two advisors and an estimator. And the estimator handles all the parts duties too.
Ryan von Steinen: But he writes a lot of estimates for it. He's a technician. That really wanted to be an advisor. And after he was an advisor, he was like, man, it's really hard for me to deal with the people. And I was like, man, you've got all this knowledge though about how to deal with situations. So he is really great at working with the technicians.
Ryan von Steinen: Nice one-on-one. Yeah. And then building estimates and helping the advisors build estimates. So
Jimmy Lea: yeah, dude, that's awesome. Congrats. Yeah. People don't realize, they think it's all, song and games. They think it's so easy there at the front desk. Yeah, and the front desk thinks, oh, these technicians, it's so easy for them.
Jimmy Lea: But until you've walked a mile in those shoes and gone the extra mile to make it two.
Ryan von Steinen: You don't know. No. And that is really apparent with this gentleman that I'm talking about, the estimator is he thought that when he was a technician, he went up there he is like, I thought they were just always like reading online or something, and he's like, I'm busier than I ever was as a tech.
Ryan von Steinen: And we have a RO check sheet. It's a whole page of things like, did I talk to Jimmy? If you're my customer about this, did I explain our warranty? Did I do our referral program? So there's. There's a lot of little pieces there.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah. And that can become overwhelming for a technician who really doesn't wanna talk.
Ryan von Steinen: Right.
Jimmy Lea: To have to talk and talk to all these people that are coming in the shop. Yep. And not only are they talking to every single person, but there's this checklist, so it's repetitive. It's the exact same conversation over and over.
Jimmy Lea: The answers are different, but it's the same questions.
Ryan von Steinen: Yep. Totally.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. I can see where a tech would be like, oh my gosh, stick my eyes with a fork. I don't wanna do this anymore.
Ryan von Steinen: No. Just trying to place him where he is happy. 'cause he is a important person, you know, for us. Yes.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Well, he is important.
Jimmy Lea: He has value and congratulations for finding a really good position for him. Yeah. One as a, an estimator. Does that also mean he receives all the parts and disseminates it?
Ryan von Steinen: Yep. So he receives parts, returns parts, does our inventory, and then we have like, labeled shelves for the technicians where we try to put, like, they got control arms that'll say the ro number, the vehicle.
Ryan von Steinen: So it's very easy for a tech. So he does almost all of that. Yeah.
Jimmy Lea: Oh, dude, that's rad. Yeah. How many bays, how many, lifts?
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah, so I always get a little, let me think about this. 5, 9, 10, 14. And we have another bay we're trying to build out. We'll have two, two more. So it's a little bit of an odd setup for an auto repair shop.
Ryan von Steinen: It was built in the fifties. It was an auto body shop first. So yes, we make the best of it, but yeah.
Jimmy Lea: Yes, and that reminds me of, Tracy Holt performance place in Utah. I think he's South Jordan or West Jordan. His shop. Dad. Dad, grandpa. Did grandpa do it first? It might've been grandpa and then dad took it and now he's in it.
Jimmy Lea: It took him 40 years to buy it from his dad. So if you got a succession plan that's shortened 40 years. Yeah, we want to hear about that. So here he is. And they are working on ag only They're working on tractors. Yeah. Right. For just years and years. They are now the oldest. Incorporated business in South Jordan or West Jordan.
Jimmy Lea: Geez. In the whole town. Like, there's no other businesses that have been around as long as these guys have. Wow. I think they started in 1950, or maybe it's even before that. So, yeah. Tracy grew up in the shop, Broman pushing a broom. And everything is tied. That whole family, the success of the family is tied to the success of the shop.
Jimmy Lea: And he has done a phenomenal job. He and his sister, Patricia. Yes, I think her name's Patricia, a phenomenal job. And they run the whole show and they have 16 bays and you can see how they added on. And dad had four bays at the very back, so it would've been 20, had four bays at the back with all these dead bodies of old race cars and stuff like that.
Jimmy Lea: And I was like, Tracy, you need to like get this all outta here 'cause this is production. You could do another. How much? Get amount money a month? Yeah. Maybe 120,000 a month. Just cleaning it up. This, so he is like, oh my gosh, yes. So he got a couple detainers, put 'em out. He had three and a half acres.
Jimmy Lea: He put 'em out in the yard, loaded everything in the tainer. Dad, your stuff's here. Come play with it whenever you want. Right. But it's not in the shop. Took out the rv, took out the boat, took out all these old race cars and put it all in there. Dad hadn't been there for like 15 years and when he does come down he just tinkers with a few things and he is done.
Jimmy Lea: Sure. So opening, I love hearing the success. Opening this up, they, I think they hired another two or three technicians. It's so rad. It is so cool when you see stuff like that happening, and I'm seeing it here with your shop as well. Congrats.
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah. And that's been a big piece is focusing on how to have a bench.
Ryan von Steinen: And that's something that, it's hard, you know what I mean? It's really taken big investment in follow up, you know? Yes. Can't, yes. If you want someone on a bench, you gotta keep in touch with them, right? Oh, absolutely. You can't just let 'em sit there for nine months.
Jimmy Lea: So, so, so what's your follow up?
Jimmy Lea: How often are you touching base with these technicians that you really want to have come work at your shop?
Ryan von Steinen: I just use Trello and I organize all the candidates in there. And you can put a one month, you know, you just put one month there and put one month out. And so then I try to follow up with people that I'm interested in and people that live locally.
Ryan von Steinen: I just invite 'em, like, anytime you're by the shop, just come in right? And like I'll even, unless I'm in this kind of deal with you or something, Jimmy, I'll give and time and say, Hey, let's talk for a few. So, yeah. And you know, another big piece that I've worked a lot on and I, I enjoy is at the schools.
Ryan von Steinen: So there's two technical schools here in our county. And volunteering there and kind of getting to the point where I've learned from some senior shop owners like of growing my own right. And that's an important piece of business to me is to like be able to have a good apprentice mentor program.
Jimmy Lea: Oh, I love it. Yeah. So you do have an apprentice program.
Ryan von Steinen: So we do have an apprentice program. I do not have an apprentice in it right now. I have a guy who just graduated from tech school, but he graduated with all ASEs, and you could maybe call him apprentice, but he is really the highest level I've ever had at that position, you know, so I would say he's a tech, you know?
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah. Just, yeah.
Jimmy Lea: Oh, congrats. That's awesome. Yeah. Do you, so I, and I applaud you for being in the tech schools, the UTIs, the wts. Do you also go into the colleges, the junior colleges, the. Community colleges, high school, middle school, elementary school. You're doing stuff like that too.
Ryan von Steinen: I mean, there's a little bit, I can't say all that.
Ryan von Steinen: So the high school near me, I met a gentleman at the last board meeting at the technical school. They have 120 kids in this program three miles away. So I'm really trying to get involved there. There is another high school local that I sit on the board for, and they have a really awesome instructor, and then my kid's in elementary school, so I they do this, I can't remember what it, career day. Career day. Yeah. So I go in and talk to classes about being a technician, so, yeah.
Jimmy Lea: Oh, that's so cool's. Bringing that air drill.
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah. And just anything like, just showing the kids images and like, what is this car, is kind of their favorite thing, you know, if it's an Audi with a black grill, you can't really tell something like that.
Ryan von Steinen: They love, that stuff. So yeah, it's been really fun.
Jimmy Lea: That's super cool. And you guys are working on some pretty crazy cars there. If you got. Bentleys, rolls Royce and Lamborghini.
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah. I mean, most of the exotic car stuff is Rolls Royce and Bentley. I feel like there's been a dealer here, so don't quote me exactly, but the late fifties, early sixties, there's been a dealer here.
Ryan von Steinen: So there's a lot of old cars. Yeah, and a lot of new cars too. And Mike, my partners, like our specialist with Real Rolls Royce and Bentleys, let's say before 1998. And then the gentleman that runs the exotic car department is our, really our best technician too. He is our manager. But he is the most knowledgeable person I've ever met on modern Rolls-Royces.
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah,
Jimmy Lea: dude, that's rad. Yeah, he's the
Ryan von Steinen: Rolls-Royce owner, club technical, manager for that division of cars. I mean, he's really an incredible individual, so
Jimmy Lea: Congrats. Yeah. That's awesome.
Ryan von Steinen: It's a cool team.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah, very cool team. And congrats on having a bench, building a bench, keeping in touch with people once a month.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah, that's solid. That is solid. Trying man. Yeah, that's cool. So what does the future look like for Ryan? What does the future look like for JB Import?
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah, I mean, like I said, I'd really like to maximize what I can do with this facility, and it's a little bit odd layout compared to like Optimal, but I feel like it's about a four and a half, $5 million facility.
Ryan von Steinen: We're under 3 million, but you know, maybe about 2.7. We're on track for this year, so we have some growth to do, but I, you know, I have a five year plan from now for 6.7 million, and so I think at some point that'll mean another shop here, but you just kind of have to see how things go. Sure. And how much of our business is exotic versus just normal BMWs, Audis and stuff, because.
Ryan von Steinen: A RO over there is three x of what it is, you know, here on BMWs and Porsches and stuff. So it's, it where, how many you do of each matters, right? How the income,
Jimmy Lea: so you're probably, let's call it, 1200, 1500 per vehicle. And over on the exotic, the Bentley, the rent, about Range Rover. Oh, rolls Royce and Rolls Ry, thank you.
Jimmy Lea: And stuff. Yeah. You're in the 3,600 to $4,500 range or something. Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's
Ryan von Steinen: four to five. It's like a pretty normal monthly one, you know, and it ebbs and flows. 'cause sometimes we have a humongous project from the. Hurricanes last fall. Oh yeah. And that'll make a month look like Incredible.
Ryan von Steinen: 'cause you have a hundred thousand dollars ticket on this huge project, but it's deceiving, you know, so.
Jimmy Lea: Right. That's the anomaly. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah. And it is just awesome what people will do and pay for to maintain or save their vehicles, you know.
Ryan von Steinen: We've seen it through the hurricanes.
Ryan von Steinen: Last year was hard 'cause we totaled 25 ish cars and mean like really nice BMWs and really nice Bentley and all sorts of stuff. But if it got saltwater it was pretty much instantly totaled
Jimmy Lea: toast. It was toast. Yeah. That's tough man. It was. That's tough. Well, I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you've got a plan.
Jimmy Lea: You're gonna get to 6.7 million. Yeah. Yeah, baby. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. What, so that's the future. Let's see. So if you were to change anything in the automotive industry, what would you change? I'm giving you a magic wand moment. You'll have one wish. You can't wish for more wishes. What's your wish?
Ryan von Steinen: So I always say it like this.
Ryan von Steinen: My wife is a speech and language pathologist, and one of the smartest people I know too. She means so much to me, but, I can't go open a speech and language. Practice down the street, you have to have a certification. Right? But my wife, who's never changed oil can go get a garage license and open a garage, right?
Ryan von Steinen: So for me, I think some type of CER certification would really make it better for the good people. The people that are listening to a podcast that are investing in training for themselves, it would make things better for those people. And I think this is only gonna become more evident as we get, you know, ADOS and electric cars and all this stuff.
Ryan von Steinen: Like we really need like a. Some type of certificate at a state level. I'm not really sure the con, the construction of it, but I really think that would be a good deal.
Jimmy Lea: So do you think that this, program, can we self run, self-fund this as a, as an industry or do you think there's some governmental, oversight that needs to step in and take control of it?
Ryan von Steinen: You know, I don't know. The thing that I feel like there in its opinion is it's hard to get government involved in stuff like this that might feel really small to them. So what it feels like to me is we've got ADOS and electric car and stuff. Once we get, and this is terrible to say, but enough accidents that come from poor repair, then the insurance company will say, you can only go to a shop that's X and X insured or certified or whatever.
Ryan von Steinen: It's, so I really think it's probably gonna be insurance companies that make the move, not. You know, the government. And that's just a guess, right? It's just something I hope for because I like the thing I said about my wife. I just, yeah. Want some kind of buried across that. Yeah. You are a respected individual in this field.
Ryan von Steinen: You can repair things correctly. 'Cause there's a lot of shops that are pretty, pretty rough, you know?
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Oh, for sure. And you find that almost in any industry. Yeah, maybe we need to go look at the, electricians or the plumbers. What's their journeyman? I had an uncle that was a lineman and he had to come up through the ranks, so there were years of hazing by other electricians Sure.
Jimmy Lea: For him to take his position as a lineman. But, yeah. What's their process? What's their procedure? Do they have oversight or is it all self-funded? Self maintained, self-controlled. By themselves. I don't know.
Ryan von Steinen: It's gotta be like who, who's at the top, whether it's insurance or the person of a big company.
Ryan von Steinen: 'cause my brother works in the elevator repair industry and he's in a union and they do lots of repair and building around here, but there's still non-union repair places that can go and repair it, and they do it for less money, you know? Sure. So, I don't know the solution I guess. Right? I just think about, man, this could really help.
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah, I agree. And what is it? What's the answer? We don't know, but we know there's a problem and if we keep asking the questions, we'll come up with an answer that helps us because Yeah, you're right. I mean, we can hire an electrician off of Facebook. We can hire an electrician, from an independent guy that, used to be a lineman but now has his own company.
Jimmy Lea: We can go to the union and hire somebody. What level of skill training. Experience, what are we looking for? And,
Ryan von Steinen: we're, and we're seeing like a little bit with the Google certified, right? Like it's a process to go through that. I did it for our company. And so that's a little bit, right, like you get that badge.
Ryan von Steinen: So maybe it's someone like that's. Talking about they are more qualified for X and x repair these difficulties, this electrical diag. Maybe that's something that can come from that side too.
Jimmy Lea: I love it. I love it. Yeah. You know, Google got in trouble 'cause they had that Google certified before where it was, Hey, are you, can you fog a mirror?
Jimmy Lea: Okay, you're Google certified. Well then Google got sued too many times and now they've come back and revamped the program. So that's why it was such, so many hoops for you to jump through on that. For sure. Yeah. To what it used to be. So congrats on getting that. That's, there's a feather in your cap right there.
Ryan von Steinen: Well, and I like those little things. Right. Because I feel like it's a little advantage versus the guy down the street, so I'm gonna do everything I can like that. That helps. So,
Jimmy Lea: yeah. Yep. That's awesome. Congrats for doing that. That's very cool, man. Yes. There, bits of advice or topics or subjects to discuss in our Leading Edge podcast.
Ryan von Steinen: You know, I think I, I don't know what the average listener is, right? But I think I, excuse me. I know I speak to a lot of shop owners who don't have any SOPs, you know, standard operating procedures. And when I talk to these people that are trying to start it, I'm like, just go write how to open the shop.
Ryan von Steinen: And it's gonna seem silly to you, but like walk in, go to the light switch at the back of the room, go to the compressor room. Like, just write that. And then you'll get this flow about how it's gonna happen and you'll just get better and better as you do him. And I really, you know, this is from a friend Neil at Oceanside Motor Sport.
Ryan von Steinen: Hes really, Neil's a rad
Jimmy Lea: dude, man. He's so, he's awesome. Awesome. He's
Ryan von Steinen: so awesome. And so I get a lot of good stuff from him or bouncing stuff off of him. Google Docs, you know, and just using everything in Google 'cause it makes it so simple to share with team members to edit and it rein indexes your, you know, your little glossary where you can find stuff.
Ryan von Steinen: So, yeah, make it Google Docs and just start writing procedures. 'cause it's really, it's pretty awesome when it works out for you, for an owner. And like, one that happens to me a lot is if it's not written, it's not true, right? So someone when they come up to me like, Hey, this person said this, or whatever, I'm like, okay, where did you write it down?
Ryan von Steinen: Like, ah, didn't, like, okay. Like, I'm so sorry. Like I care about your feelings. Right. But we've made this a rule for a reason, in things like this. Like every shop owner wants to get the most money he can, right? So we have a rule, like if a technician sees it, he's gotta note it, gotta have a photo, he is gotta have a note about it.
Ryan von Steinen: If an advisor gets that from a technician, they have to estimate it, right? And so love it. Doing those things, putting procedures in place and holding people accountable has really made a big difference.
Jimmy Lea: So, what point of sale system are you using? Tech metric. Tech metric. So in tech metric, are you using their DVI as well?
Jimmy Lea: When a technician is working on a car and he marks that something needs immediate attention, is it part of your policy procedure that they have to take a picture of whatever it is that they're recommending?
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah. And even like sometimes you'll get the car with 8,000 miles. I'm like, you gotta put up four photos, minimum.
Ryan von Steinen: Take a photo of the tires or the engine, say how clean it is or how awesome this car is. Like, and another thing is like, don't just put all bad. Right? Yeah. You get somebody and you're writing 'em $12,000 estimates, you gotta tell 'em something good too. Right? You know, this thing looks great.
Ryan von Steinen: Or front suspension I can tell is head work, good job, whatever it may be. But include some good, oh yeah.
Jimmy Lea: No, there, there's a standard number of photos that you should have on every car, and this will help save you and save your clients and your customers. Specifically taking four corners. Yeah. You take pictures at the four corners.
Ryan von Steinen: Yep.
Jimmy Lea: It documents the condition of the vehicle, so it helps you to not pay for those dent lists. Ding removal. It had a ding when it came in. It had a ding now and it's gonna leave with a ding. There was one, that the customer was adamant that the shop had broken off the passenger mirror.
Jimmy Lea: And, they went back to the DVI and the picture showed that it was broken off. And he's like, well, you broke off before you moved it into the shop. So they went back to the video. They have video that video the whole yard. And as sure enough as he's driving in, it was broken off and, he had to apologize.
Jimmy Lea: And to his credit, he did, he talked to his wife and sure she had accidentally broken it off, backing out of the garage or something like that. So. And just not gotten around and forgotten. You know, life gets busy. Just forget to say, Hey, oh, this happened. Right? So it, it was on him and he owned it.
Jimmy Lea: So still a good client of that shop, I'm sure.
Ryan von Steinen: It's been many times that's happened, you know? Yeah. And there was a Rolls-Royce that got delivered here a couple years ago and had a cracked windshield and a Rolls-Royce windshield, big money. And the owner was all about, it wasn't cracked rent, left my house, and it was cracked when it arrived.
Ryan von Steinen: So we figured it out, but it's just because of that four corner check in. And we always do the, instrument cluster with their seatbelt on too. So
Jimmy Lea: I love the instrument cluster. I also take a picture of the Dr, the license plate.
Ryan von Steinen: Yeah. Okay.
Jimmy Lea: Because you got your tags on there. If it's expired or coming up for due, or it's due for expire soon.
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. It helps you in tech metric. You put in there the renewal date and now you know, hey, you gotta bring your car in. We need, we can do this. Well, Florida doesn't have state protection anymore. No. And that would be a
Ryan von Steinen: great thing. That's another thing I would love, but, yeah, but no, I get what you're saying and I like just having it to be able to tell him, Hey, Jimmy, like, you know, your tag's running out next month, right?
Ryan von Steinen: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, hey, it expired last month. Oh, shoot. Thanks. You know?
Jimmy Lea: Yeah. I don't want you getting a ticket. No. I've been a recipient of one of those, one of those fix it tickets.
Jimmy Lea: Yep. Totally. Oh man. I just totally forgot. And you take care of it and everything's fine. Yeah. No, that's good.
Jimmy Lea: That's good. Well, conga, congratulations Ryan. Congratulations on the future. I hope it goes extremely well for you. Do you have a succession plan here with your partner? That you're gonna buy him out, or does he want to be bought out? Yeah,
Ryan von Steinen: he, he does it. But it's truthfully been hard and messy and the property and the business are two separate things, you know?
Ryan von Steinen: So, I see the light. I'm not giving up. I'm very positive about it, but it's not easy. So I think that's something maybe I could say to another shop owners too, is. A lot of shop owners are DIYers, right? They're good at fixing things, doing stuff themselves. This is not something you really should DIY you, you need some help, right?
Ryan von Steinen: So you do. That'd be my advice. And
Jimmy Lea: especially with people that have been there, done that, they've gone through the succession plans, there's 99 different ways of documenting or planning out your succession plan, whether it is the properties included or not, or leased back or, first right of refusal, whatever that situation is.
Jimmy Lea: Document, document. My $17,000 lesson that I learned that you guys have implemented is it has to be written down. Yeah. It's not written down. It didn't happen. Doesn't exist in your SOL. Yeah. Yep. Cool. Well congratulations Ryan. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time today. Thanks for Yeah, it was great talking about Talking Shop.
Ryan von Steinen: Thanks so much Jimmy. Appreciate the time.
Jimmy Lea: Alright man. Talk to you soon. Take care. Bye.