Have you met Kyle Boyce? If you haven’t, well, you really should. Kyle’s a part of our cover feature this month ("The Millennial Shop Owner's Vision for Collision Repair"), and there’s a very specific reason we chose Kyle and the three other shop operators profiled in that piece. It’s not just their ages (all four are millennials), or that we at FenderBender are jealous of Kevin Taylor’s boots in that cover image (even though we are).
Nope. Read the story; very quickly you’ll see what they all have in common: These are four operators (three shops) that have already pushed this industry forward, that run businesses that exemplify what it takes to succeed in today’s challenging, contracting industry. Each relies on the history of his business, his experience in the industry and the lessons he’s learned to be able to look ahead at where the industry will go—and all of them have found a way to act on that right now in the present.
Let’s repeat their lesson: Use the past and the future to shape your present. And then act on it.
It’s easy to get complacent on the successes experienced in the past, and it’s just as easy to plan and talk about all the changes you will make and successes you will have—likely, “someday, when X happens.” Putting it all in motion is more difficult, though.
We face that challenge at FenderBender every day, as I’m sure you do in your business. As it’s January, I suppose all of us are looking ahead eagerly to our goals for 2018. Some of ours here include the launch of our webinar series (it starts Jan. 23), tripling our output of podcasts, adding a slate of columnists (including Ryan Cropper), and many, many other projects.
And the execution is where the past, present and future all come together. If you’ve met Kyle (or simply read the story), you’ll realize that it isn’t as daunting as it might seem. Change isn’t scary. Progression isn’t intimidating. Both are necessary to attain goals. Let’s get started. There’s not time like right now.
