A.D.D....

If I were a kid in school today there is no telling just how medicated I'd be. So medicated, the very thought scares me!

I'm sure they would try their best to muffle the chaos in my head: chaos I just couldn't wait to share with everyone in the classroom either by accident or on purpose. If I had to paint a picture of what's going in there it would have to look a little like those television editing booths they sometimes show on screen. You know, the ones with two dozen screens showing two dozen different shots of just about everything going on around you.

Well, that's pretty much the way it looks and feels to me... With a producer shouting, "Give me Two on my count: three - two - one - Now!"

I've got an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of white paper taped to the filing cabinet across from my desk with the words "STAY FOCUSED" printed in 60-point, bold type; but, it might as well say, "Pink Bunny." Or, better yet, "Squirrel!"

Between the incoming phone calls, the work I have to catch up on by close of business tomorrow, the work coming in, payroll, the constant barrage of problems, challenges, opportunities and solutions... Well, I don't stand a chance. In fact, it's a wonder I get to accomplish anything at all and I'm sure I wouldn't if it wasn't just a matter of sheer force of will.

The most terrifying part of all? I've been doing it so long that crazy seems normal: so long, I actually crave it!

In all fairness, it's a little worse because I was gone for five days and the five days I was gone were spent attending an industry conference that has me so pumped up it must look like I'm vibrating around the shop. It could have something with the "To Do" list I brought with me or the commitment I've made to continuing education and improvement. Either way, I know the people closest to me are going, "Buckle your seat belts: Here we go again!" And, they're right!

As a result of the conference, I've made the commitment to bring a number of the possibilities I was exposed to back to our shop, changes that are almost guaranteed to enhance our ability to serve our clients. In fact, I've already started implementing some of those changes.

The goals are relatively simple: expand, improve and serve.

Now, all we have to do is do it!

As the weeks and months go by I'll be bringing some of those changes here and then opening them up for discussion. If there really is anybody out there, you're more than welcome to join in.

Even if you don't join in, it should still be one hell of a wild ride: one worthy of your consideration, especially if we are successful.

I know that even though I don't know how it will end or what it has to offer, I still can't wait to get started.

To confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with my brother wizards...

I'm sitting at my desk trying to get a handle on my feelings about an impending business trip that will begin this coming Tuesday, March 16.

The problem stems from my participation in the group sponsoring the meeting itself. You see it's almost impossible to articulate or explain what the group is all about: at least, it is for me. You see it’s more than the sum of its parts. That really shouldn’t be a problem at this point as I’ve already been to a number of these conferences. Nevertheless, it still is.

I could say it’s a consulting company. After all, they do consulting. I could say it’s a ‘coaching’ company. I have a coach. I could say a lot of things about the company, but in reality it is perhaps the most important business resource I have ever found or employed.

More than that, it works! But, that hasn’t helped me to describe it to someone else or to get my arms around it on a personal level. The funniest part of it all is what is currently swirling around in my head: so strange, I’m not even sure I get it myself. What I see if I close my eyes is one of the final scenes of “The Wizard of OZ,” the Hollywood film classic.

Now, you’ve got to understand that as a kid growing up in the 50’s, “The Wizard of Oz” was magical: everything about it. Each element was indelibly etched in my memory: the subtlety of going from Black & White to Technicolor, the characters, the Wicked Witch, the Winkies, the Palace Guards, the Wizard himself, Dorothy, the special effects – which really seemed pretty special at the time, all of it.

So, in a way, my being fixated on a specific scene as I sit here and agonize over leaving shouldn’t really be all that much of a surprise, even it if is troublesome to me. Which scene… Well, the last scene in Oz, of course: the scene in which the Wizard announces he is leaving.

This is what it looks and feels like:

LAP DISSOLVE TO:

Ext. Public Square, Emerald City -- LS -- The Wizard and Dorothy in the

basket of balloon -- Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion standing on platform with

them -- people of Oz grouped about them -- the Wizard speaks to them as

the CAMERA MOVES forward -- the people cheer --

                                                WIZARD

                        Good people of Oz, this is positively the

                        finest exhibition ever to be shown --

                                    (stammers)

                        -- yes -- well -- be that as it may -- I,

                        your Wizard par ardua ad alta, am about to

                        embark upon a hazardous and technically

                        unexplainable journey into the outer

                        stratosphere.

MCS -- Wizard and Dorothy in the basket -- the Wizard speaks to the crowd

o.s. -- CAMERA PANS to left to enter the Tin Man and Scarecrow, then PANS

right as the Wizard points to the Lion --

                                                WIZARD

                        To confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob

                        with my brother wizards...

Well, I guess if I really had to explain where I was going and what I will be doing to anyone interested enough to ask, that is precisely what I’d have to say: I’m going to confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with my brother wizards…

Why? Well, because that’s what Wizards do!

All kidding aside, that’s pretty much it! I’m going to spend the next few days with a fairly large group of very forward thinking, extremely committed, very involved, automotive service professionals absolutely focused on just about one thing and one thing only: improving their businesses so they can deliver the best quality products and services they are capable of in ways almost guaranteed to delight their/our clients.

The agenda is packed with classes, programs, speakers and discussions all designed to make me… make us… even better at what we do, and that is serve you.

Despite the density and richness of the program and the fact that it goes from early in the morning until late at night, I think I’m going to at least try to drop you a line from the meeting. But, for now, I’m going to have to click my heels together three times and say, “There’s no place like Oz! There’s no place like Oz!”

I'll Have a Pittsburgh Cheese Steak & an Iron City Beer...

There’s only one thing I can think of that’s worse than being in your car and on your way to the airport at three-thirty in the morning for a six a.m. flight and that is finding yourself in a hotel shuttle van on your way back to the airport at four o'clock in the morning for a six o’clock flight home  some forty-nine hours later.

The six o’clock flight home isn’t the bad part… It’s the traveling in general, the airports and the traffic (Yes! There IStraffic on the 405… even at three-thirty in the morning!). It’s the rush hour traffic you fly into regardless of where you go, especially if where you go is due East and the two or three hours you add to your trip almost certainly ensures you’ll be stopping more than going in the stop-and-go traffic you are certain to encounter. It’s eating alone and being ‘up’ and ready for an eight-thirty keynote followed by a three-hour seminar four hours later. Did I mention the eating alone? And, it’s changing planes or worse yet terminals in Chicago or Dallas.

And… and… and…

The only thing that can make any of it worthwhile: the leaving your home and your life and your business, are the people you meet and the natural beauty that you find yourself immersed in regardless of where you go so long as you allow that beauty to wash over you. That, and the intrinsic beauty of the people you meet every time you venture out into the world and the impact each of them can have on you… if you let them touch your life… And, especially if they allow you to touch theirs.
I left the shop for an association meeting and trade show in Pittsburgh this past Friday. Truth be told, I didn’t want to.

I know… I know… Then, why did you go?


Well, it wasn’t the meeting or the city or even the fact that it’s still winter there. Or, the fact they've had more snow than anyone should ever have to deal with. There was just too much going on here: too much going on at the shop, and I was having too much fun doing it to want to go anywhere. But, they asked and I accepted.

So, I got up at three o’clock Friday morning and was on the road by three-thirty. I went over my notes for Saturday’s keynote in the air. I went over the slides for the seminar I was presenting later on that afternoon. I thought about the internal struggle I am currently confronting as I try to figure out how to break up my marketing budget: how much for acquisition, how much for retention and how much for loyalty and reward. And, then I started to think about how fortunate I am: how privileged.

I was asked… I was asked to share my experience, my knowledge, my life, with some of the most incredible people in the world: the folks who do what I do... automotive service professionals, like me.

They wanted to hear what I had to say. They were gracious and generous and attentive: grateful that I’d come so far to be with them. But, the real truth  is I’m the one who was really grateful. You see, I’ve yet to go anywhere and speak to any group where I didn’t come home enriched by the experience. So, if it sounds like I was whining about the opportunity to get up that early, I’m not. Not, really… I love what I do and I love the people I do it for. In fact, it’s pretty much what I’ve got written down on the little piece of paper I keep in my wallet:



To enrich the lives of those I serve, moving them toward the success that is so elusive in our industry, by sharing my personal knowledge and experience.


In the end, Pittsburgh was wonderful because the people were wonderful (The food wasn’t half-bad either! Especially, that Iron City cheese steak with the coleslaw and French fries built in washed down with some Iron City beer!).

So, it’s a pretty good bet you'll be reading about my getting up before dawn to share what I’ve learned and where I’ve been with another group of shop owners long before I’ve had the chance to process how much I’ve learned and how much my life has been enriched by the last group of shop owners I just left.

Car Tunes...

The last few weeks have been tough...

The shop has been busy. We had my wife's aunt staying with us. I finally managed to overcome my own personal nemesis and Achilles Tendon since childhood, Bronchitis - again. And, I haven't been able to work out - in the pool or otherwise, since the last time I wrote about it here.

All in all, this is not the optimum scenario for me or anyone else, for that matter.

I think that's why no one seemed to understand why I would wake up early... really, early... this past Sunday morning to drive the seventy-plus miles to Santa Barbara for a shop management seminar when that's the same kind of thing I've been presenting for more than twenty-five years.

I don't blame them! At first, I couldn't understand it myself. Nevertheless, I was driven - figuratively speaking, of course - to do exactly that!

So, after a quick stop at Java Johnny's - purveyor of the world's most exquisite (and, powerful) coffee -  for a "special" and a large coffee with a double-shot... Hey! It's a long drive and the Corvette isn't the only thing that requires "High Octane" fuel! - Bob Seger, Blues Traveler, Dave Matthews and John Mayer found ourselves on the "Old Road" to Highway 126, and then the 101 Freeway to the Fess Parker Inn to listen to my friend, Ken Brookings, hold forth.

It would be hard to describe just how beautiful it was taking the "Old Road" to Ventura and then heading North on the 101. So, I'm not going to try...

I'll show you instead. The picture quality isn't what I'd hoped it might be. But, then again, trying to achieve great picture quality while rocketing along at seventy-four or seventy-six mile per hour may not be a realistic goal. Especially, when you're the only one in the vehicle! And, I wasn't able to catch the waves crashing over the rocks on to the southbound lanes like I wanted to... So, you'll just have to take my word for it. But, it was magnificent, nevertheless!

Regardless, I made it to the seminar venue with just enough time to watch the para-gliders do their thing (Sorry, too busy watching and enjoying to think about more pictures...) and park myself for more than four hours of great information, stimulating conversation and a spectacular lunch.

It's interesting to see how others react to a morning spent like this: Why did you go? Didn't you have anything else to do? What in the world could possibly be worth that kind of a drive? Or, my personal favorite: I thought you already knew all that stuff!

The fact of the matter is: Information is power! There isn't anything I wanted to do more than I wanted to go and sit and learn that morning! Hanging out with smart people and listening to what they have to say was well worth the drive! And, yes: I do know all that stuff already! But, as you learn and grow, everything you read or hear or experience impacts you in new and different ways and on formerly unexplored levels based on all the new information you processed. Consequently, the morning was glorious!

Almost as glorious as the ride home listening to the car's tunes and thinking about all the great stuff I just learned for the first time all over again!

Because It Gives Me Peace...

I'm relatively new to this 'Blogging' stuff.

I tried my hand at it in August... unsuccessfully.

I really didn't have a handle on what it was supposed to be all about, but that didn't stop me. Although, it probably should have. I was subsequently inspired to try again by my son who is more or less keeping an electronic journal of his preparation for the 2010 Tempe Ironman event, Seth Godin and Tom Peters.

Reading my son's blog (theironmadman.blogspot.com) and becoming addicted to Seth Godin's have helped me to understand that there is no right or wrong way to go about this which has in turn quieted my perfectionist neuroses to a manageable level: You know, that not so small voice that demands everything you do is done flawlessly lest someone find out you are somehow less than you appear to be... somehow less than you think they might think you are.

Did I just say that out loud?

The result of of this exploration has me taking another run at it, first on my company's website: schneidersauto.net, and then again here. Realistically, I haven't decided if the content will be the same, similar or different. You know, one focused on our automotive service business, the automotive aftermarket, broken cars and broken people: more or less the heart and soul of the columns I have written to the industry for the past twenty-five years, and my 'other life...' the one that begins and ends on the other side of the driveway at 607 E. Los Angeles Avenue; a world of family, friends, kids and community.

Realistically, it isn't all that easy to separate the two. I lean toward obsessive/compulsive behavior... a lot. And, tend to carry my professional life home with me every night and every weekend mixed in with the stack of papers and folders I drag back and forth every night. In fact, I'm sitting here right now bracketed by one of the 6 1/2" x 9" spiral notebooks I've started carrying everywhere on the left pull-out writing surface of my desk, and that five-inch stack of papers and folders I just mentioned, crying out for attention on my right.

It's Sunday and I just finished watching a digital recording of the The Sunday Morning Show, something that has more or less become a ritual around here: a recording because I refuse to get up at "0:Dark:thirty" in the morning to watch it when it actually airs, and a ritual because it is something that both my wife and I take great pleasure in doing together.

The motivation for this post is something that was said upon the conclusion of this week's episode and my subsequent response. After my wife and I finished talking about what we had just finished watching, I got up and started toward my office. She asked where I was going and I told her, although there aren't all that many choices in the small, 4-bedroom tract house referred to with love as "the Baronial Estate," purchased new thirty-six years ago.

She asked me why... And, I told her I was heading to my office to write. After all, that's what writers do.

She asked me why... And, without a second thought, I replied... "Because it gives me peace!" And, at that moment I achieved a blinding insight into something a dear friend and client said to me more years ago than I care to remember... "Work is prayer..."

Suddenly, I realized that work is prayer and that the purpose of prayer is to elevate; to communicate with powers in the universe greater than one's self. And, that through this dialogue we can achieve peace - Or, at least, I can: if not on demand, then, at least, at times! And, even though I may be writing about something that happened in the "real" world, the world in which I struggle to confront every day - the very act of writing about it transforms whatever it was that happened into something somehow more objective: something, somehow less personal and subjective. And, there is a very real kind of peace to be found in that simple transformation. There is a very real peace to be found in moving from the direct to the indirect...

So, in a way, my ultimate reason for my return to blogging is somewhat selfish: it is at least in part a search for the kind of peace most of us are probably struggling to find. In another, it is totally altruistic: altruistic in the sense I hope that by sharing my search with you, you may discover a door or a window leading to the kind of peace you are struggling to find.

Who knows... We may even find what we are looking for together. But, right now, it's time to pray: time to work for the peace I seek! In other words, I have a deadline to meet...

More later...