How Do I Save My Mechanic Shop From Closing? Marcus's Turnaround

You save it by doing two things, in this order. First, read your real numbers instead of your bank balance, so you know what the business actually has to achieve. Then build systems so the shop stops depending on you for everything. That's what Marcus Skilbeck did when he was three weeks from closing his doors, and six months later he was back in profit.

If you're close to that point yourself, it doesn't mean you're bad at this. Nobody ever showed you how to run the business side of a mechanics workshop.

How close was Marcus to closing?

Marcus owns Skilly's Tyre & Auto in Heathcote, Victoria. He's been in the mechanical trade for around 24 years and in business for himself for 10.

There was a point where he was done. In his words: "I had three weeks left before I was going to close the doors."

Too much money had come out of the business for reasons outside the shop, and the business was paying for it. The team felt it too. "I had workers that come into work that didn't really want to be there because I was a pretty unattentive boss."

He saw our Facebook ads enough times that he picked up the phone and joined our eight-week program. He tells the next part against himself. He remembers me calling almost every week to say his credit card payment hadn't gone through. "Because I was right at the point where I was shuffling every last dollar just to keep the doors open."

If you're paying one bill with the money meant for another and telling yourself it'll come good next month, you're standing where Marcus stood.

Why did it get that bad?

Marcus is honest about the real problem, and it wasn't the work. He wasn't looking at his numbers.

"I was driving blind, and I'd stuck my head in the sand and went, 'I don't care. We're making money. There's money in the bank. I'm paying the bills.'"

I hear that from an auto repair shop owner in trouble more than anything else. Money in the bank feels like profit, but the balance can look fine right up until the week it doesn't. It also can't tell you whether you made money on a single job.

The other half was the shop itself. There were no systems for the team to work from, so everything leaned on Marcus at the same time as he was shuffling money to keep the doors open.

What did Marcus change to save his shop?

He changed two things.

He started looking at his numbers. Instead of reading the bank balance, he learned where the business actually stood and what it had to achieve. He calls it "the real wake-up call": "having to actually go, 'Well, I've got to make it work to do this job.'"

He got his systems right. This is the one he names as the biggest change. "The biggest change and the biggest benefit for us was when we had our systems right." He's clear they're never finished: "They're still a work in progress, and they will always be a work in progress." But they're good enough now that a new person at the front counter can pick up the job and run with it, and that frees Marcus up for the things only he can do.

The two work together. The numbers told him what had to change, and the systems kept it happening when he wasn't standing over it. It's what we mean when we say a business without systems owns you, and a business with systems sets you free.

Where is Marcus's shop now?

Six months later, the business had turned. "We were back in profit, we were back making money." That's three weeks from closing to back in profit in half a year, and he's kept building on it since. He's been in The Engine Room, our coaching program for auto repair shop owners, since it began.

• The shop runs without him. "I was out of the shop for three and a half weeks, and the shop operated without me." Then the line I love most: "It actually made more money without me than it did when I was there, which was a bit sad."
• The bank says yes. Because he had the figures to back him, finance took a day. "It was in my account 24 hours later." No back and forth.
• A bigger shop. In the last two months he's moved from a very small shop into a rather large one. His tyre target there was 100 a month, and he didn't expect to hit it for at least the first three months. In the first five days, he did 72. He's already past 200 for the month.
• People want to work for him. The owner whose team didn't want to be there now has about 20 people lined up who want an apprenticeship with him, aged 15 to 30.

He's clear about what made the growth possible: "I couldn't have done it without working out where our finances were at to be able to do it."

Which part of Marcus's story sounds like your shop?

Each part of his turnaround has its own article, so start with the one that sounds most like you.

• The money stopped making sense. Marcus was shuffling dollars between bills. If that's you, start with how to fix cash flow in your auto repair shop.
• He was driving blind. Money in the bank told him nothing. Here are the numbers an auto repair shop owner should check every week, and none of them is your bank balance.
• The team had no systems. His biggest change was systems. If you don't know where to begin, read what systems a mechanic workshop needs first.
• The shop made more without him. That's the goal, and it's built on purpose. Here's how to build an auto repair shop that runs without you.

Questions auto repair shop owners ask

Is it too late to save my auto repair shop?

Marcus had three weeks left and was back in profit six months later, so for him it wasn't too late. Whether it's too late for you depends on your numbers. Most owners in trouble haven't looked at them properly yet, so look before you make the call.

How long does it take to turn a struggling mechanic shop around?

For Marcus, it was six months from three weeks out to back in profit. That came from the owner doing the work on his numbers and his systems, not from one big fix. Every garage moves at its own pace, and the clock starts when you can see where the money is going.

Can I afford a business coach when I can barely pay the bills?

Marcus was in that exact spot, and some weeks his card payment didn't go through. Carrying on blind was the bigger risk. A business coach who has run an automotive workshop can show you where the money is leaking, which is the part that's hardest to see from inside it. If you want to see what other owners got, here are the results auto repair shops get from business coaching.

What should I do tonight before deciding to close?

Before you make any decision about closing, get two figures in front of you. Pull last month's profit and loss and write down what came in and what went out, then write down what you actually paid yourself. Leave the bank balance out of it and look at those two lines.

If you can't get them, or they don't make sense when you do, the problem sits in the numbers, which is exactly where Marcus started.

Related questions:

• Why Do I Have to Do Everything Myself?
• How Do I Delegate When My Team Keeps Making Mistakes?
• How Do I Take a Holiday Without the Shop Falling Apart?

See what changes for the people who do this work. On our Our Clients page, auto repair shop owners, named and on camera, tell you what actually changed in their shops and their numbers. Marcus is one of them.

More on this topic: all Systems articles.

Whenever you're ready, here's how we can help.

• Not ready to spend anything yet? Start free with Shop Talk, a 30-day reset for auto repair shop owners on our YouTube channel, and our free resources for auto repair shop owners.
• Running an auto repair shop under $50,000 a month? Auto Superstars Academy builds the foundations, with one-on-one coaching on demand from a business coach who is a current or former auto repair shop owner.
• Over $50,000 a month? The Engine Room, the program Marcus is part of, changes how the whole business runs, from your numbers to your team, delivered online with one-on-one coaching on demand.