Leaving Corporate Consulting to Buy a Car Repair Shop: Brittain Bost | 010

Charles (: 00:21

Everyone welcome. This is the Unsexy Entrepreneurship podcast. Today we're really excited. We're having Britton Bost on to talk to us a little bit. He is the co-owner of Willard Automotive. He is a Texas A grad with a degree in business. And then he spent nine years with Accenture as a management consulting manager, helping clients with changes with their employee technology. We're so excited to have you Britton. This is

Seth Jenson (: 00:36

Okay.

Charles (: 00:47

going to be hopefully the first in a long line of interviews. because we can, me and Seth can talk forever on, on theory, but it's totally different when we actually talk in person with someone that's done it. so I guess my first question, we're going to keep it as a softball. You bought an automotive company that's a little different than, ⁓ employee technology. How did that even happen?

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 01:09

Yeah. You know, I always laugh like very prayerfully, I'll say. It was a long journey. I don't think starting a few years ago when I started to dream about leaving the consulting world and finding something a little bit more local, I had heard about the idea of purchasing a company. again, automotive was never on that list, I would say until middle of last year.

2024. always more context, always more background. It's going to be, I think, a funny thing in a few years to say it seems like an overnight success after five years of really hard work and a lot of growth. But it really is wild to see how everything has come together in a short amount of time, even with Willard and some of the expansions that we've already done and still looking for.

wanted to dive into something that I can consider my own. And honestly, the more I started looking at some of the smaller business models and areas of diving in, was, yeah, just the opportunity, the right opportunity came up. It was the right bite size for my family. I've got a really supportive wife and she knew that the partner I was going in with was gonna be a really big safety net for myself and our family.

So that's essentially how automotive became the thing is moving into that. We were able to secure some lending, found the right company to acquire really good reputation and essentially just continuing the legacy, right? That was my biggest banner flag going to these companies and owners talking with owners was, I just want to continue your legacy. I don't want to change everything day one. I just want to continue to make a good community impact and really just continue to put my fingerprints on.

Seth Jenson (: 02:23

.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 02:43

what you've created and helping it grow. So that's been my big passion. Automotive just happened to be the thing.

Charles (: 02:49

Yeah. So you didn't come in saying I want to do automotive and change the world. was more of the right deal at the right time for the right price point.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 02:57

100%. I think that's a, if anyone's looking to purchase a business, they'll know that it is a big struggle to narrow your search down as much as possible. And I will say once I was able to actually say, it's going to be automotive and being able to write specific letters to certain sized companies that were going to be targets, that was not how I ended up finding Willard, but things clarified and got a lot easier once I solidified.

From a lot of people I've talked to that are looking for acquisition to begin their entrepreneurship journey, sometimes it's too big of a canvas. There's too many options, too many sizes. anyway, I struggled with that for probably two years and then again finally decided to just pull the trigger in this after it was just one opportunity that really began to shape a little bit more of my desires in automotive.

Seth Jenson (: 03:29

Hmm.

curious since automotive wasn't the world you were in previous to purchasing this company, what gave you the confidence to say, you know what, I think I can still be successful in this place, right? Even though there's going to be a lot of newness, a lot of, I guess just a huge growth curve, learning curve in terms of those early stages. What helped you feel confident in making that transition?

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 04:04

I think the background of consulting, was very project oriented. I think a lot of people also like I have a really strong mentorship group of guys that I reach out to pretty consistently. ⁓ A lot of good strong community. I think it was, it's not just a single facet, I would say. It said that gave me the final, final burst. have so many insecurities I had, I'm having to still work through so many of those. But yeah, it was definitely a team effort to get me to the point of saying,

Seth Jenson (: 04:15

Mm.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 04:30

Okay, I'm going cannonball into this. But I think the confidence still is, okay, if the previous owners were able to do this, and obviously automotive is unique because it's very technical, you've got to really understand fundamental elements of it to be successful, I think. And I've gone a lot in last six months even. But I think just knowing any business is going to be learnable. I'm going to restart my career, but it's...

The juice is worth the squeeze, right? I knew that this is what I wanted. My soul was longing for something along these lines. And so I think it was just a multitude of things. then the jumping point to say, I'm going to figure this out now, right? I'm going to make this my problem and I'll do whatever it takes to make it a success. I did have a little bit of a cheat code with a partner that had direct ownership in an automotive shop. So I'm really grateful for that.

Seth Jenson (: 04:53

Mm-hmm.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 05:17

But even before him, you know, it was a lot of the confidence going, okay, it's going to be some different industry. I'm going to have to learn it. And I was already fairly comfortable with that, with the consulting of just kind of having to orient and rebrand myself into, this is what we need to learn to be successful with a specific client. And so probably a lot of ignorance, probably a lot of ignorance. Seth, mean, specifically where you sit, I'm sure it's, that sometimes that ignorant confidence can be really good just to get you in the ring and then

Seth Jenson (: 05:34

Yeah.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 05:42

trial by fire.

Seth Jenson (: 05:43

Well, I just to highlight a few points you made there that I think are so important for people to understand is I think you realized, you you said something to the effect of like somebody was already doing this job before I took it over. Like it's doable. Like if they can do it, I can too. And there's going to have to be a lot of learning. But like, I just think that is just a huge unlock for anybody because it feels scary. And we just got to remember that every business is being run by someone made of the same stuff you are.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 05:56

Yeah, absolutely.

yeah.

Seth Jenson (: 06:11

And if you're willing to do the work and approach it humbly, which you did, and you were so smart, you're like, you know what, if I don't understand something, I'm gonna bring someone that does. They can, you know, we can increase our value creation and compliment each other. But I just think that's such a huge unlock for people that are sitting at the precipice trying to decide, my gosh, like, am I capable of this? Just remember, anybody can, somebody's already doing that job.

Charles (: 06:30

⁓

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 06:31

editing.

Charles (: 06:33

Yeah, so I'm going to ask you a next question. We'll just keep moving forward. He'll jump back in when he can. So I was really curious, how did you find your partner, your co-owner?

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 06:43

Yeah, that was, he began in just the season of mentor. was someone that was a ⁓ bit of a unique person in my life. When I was growing up in the small town, he was actually a college student. And so I was in a small group at the church that I attended and ⁓ Luke was my college leader essentially for that group. And so it's funny that we actually named our entity the same name as that group was called Zeal Auto.

That's what we call ourselves, but I was a zeal group back in Bryan College station. So that's how we met each other. We reconnected in Dallas years later. He moved to Alabama and we just, yeah, stayed in contact. And so he was someone that at least lived out that archetype for me and said, this is possible. He completely changed his career. And I thought that was really cool. He was also someone that I think has a lot of fun with work. remember seeing Facebook posts of his with the employees that he worked with.

And they were just like having a blast. were doing funny skits. were, you know, making lighthearted of work that's probably really hard and stressful. And so I always looked up to him for that. And then again, just as I was looking through deals, I would run things past him and then eventually, yeah, I looked at an automotive deal and we started getting more serious with it. And I was like, you know, there's a lot of, you know, boxes that this is checking for me.

And he almost assumed himself into it. He's like, well, I'm going to be there. And I was like, I guess, yeah, we could be doing this together. It was funny. That wasn't even on my radar. We started talking to the details of that and it's still very fluid. think he's wanting me to be able to satisfy the desire of ownership and to really put my name behind something. But ultimately, again, this is major transformation for myself to go, what do I want now out of this world? Do I want to be just a

Charles (: 08:01

you

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 08:23

an HR consultant kind of thing almost and go around to different shops and encourage and build up culture and team, which I'm much more of a people person than an operator. My partner is the opposite. ⁓ He can be a good people person, but he's a very strong operator that still loves people really well, but we have very complimentary skill sets and giftings. So it's worked out really well. That was a long answer to your short question.

Seth Jenson (: 08:40

it. ⁓

Charles (: 08:48

Yeah,

no, you're good. Well, it's just so interesting because from my perspective, going in with a co-owner kind of ⁓ offset some of the risk involved. ⁓ And entrepreneurship through acquisition in general takes away some of that risk and then adding in someone that has done it before who has that experience, it's such a cool opportunity. And I just don't see it very often. And so was kind of curious on

Seth Jenson (: 08:56

Thank

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 09:00

100%.

Charles (: 09:15

on how you even came to that and how people can replicate it too, right? Cause that's the key is I'm sure someone listening is thinking, I don't know anything about automotive. I would love to run my own business, but kind of making that jump is really scary the first time.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 09:30

Yeah. And I've had a lot of conversations with people about exactly what you're talking about, essentially, of if you are interested. And again, it's like, don't want to be the, you you've not even done this for a full year yet, Britton, so don't get ahead of yourself in terms of selling the dream. But I really have been impressed with one, the profitability that a shop can be and have.

And again, just some of the lower risk of, this is not a huge bite. This is somewhat, again, replicable. There's tons of models out there. There are tons of people that have walked ahead of us. There's a lot of, mean, mechanic talent is definitely a unique element and problem to solve. But I've already pitched a lot of my friends on, basically save money and let us back you. Let us help you get over that hump. And then essentially either that would be a long-term partnership. We don't want a franchise.

Seth Jenson (: 10:18

you

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 10:21

Some of the franchise models get us a little bit icky and my partner has some negative experiences directly with that. But to your point to get someone over that hump of saying, I want to be an owner of something. want to completely change my trajectory. I'm very bullish on using people that are already doing that to enable you. And again, that might look a million different ways, but I think the most fundamental element is that trust factor there.

is that somebody that you, you know, they always joke about someone you're getting into bed with almost. There is a lot of, a lot of trust that's needed to be able to split profit checks and make decisions together. yeah, again, we had a lot of backgrounds that helped with a lot of that. It doesn't mean that it's not, there's not always, you know, difficult conversations to have, but anyway, yeah, I think it's a huge, huge blessing to have.

Seth Jenson (: 10:52

Absolutely.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 11:12

someone that's walked ahead of me already at this.

Charles (: 11:14

Yeah. so I guess kind of more into the nitty gritty of it all. because I am an accountant. I'm curious on, did y'all go in 50 50? Was there seller financing on top of that was because I imagine he's coming from a shop already. Did he just have the capital and he's basically financing it then you're running it and then a 50 50 split. Like how did that, those conversations go?

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 11:37

There was a lot of probably just conversations. We've written things down. My wife was a little bit more stressed of how many things were not as well buttoned up as they should have been and could have been. So don't take that as a replicate. So essentially we started off with an understanding that I would like to have 60 % of the company just to have like a majority share. And as time has gone on, there was actually an interesting

kind of middle ground at the beginning of an operator that's now an owner, an operator, co-owner with myself in Alabama. So we can talk about that story a little bit, but he was actually receiving some of the profit share just because he was an excellent operator. I was able to learn in the background while he was just running the shop for the first three months. And then he kind of cannonballed into his own opportunity that we can talk about later. So as we were looking at Willard, the price was again, nothing.

Nothing more significant than the average home price in DFW for a standard, I would say, three and a half bedroom, three and a half bath kind of thing. Yes, it's not free by any means, but that was a big unlock for even my wife to say, hey, instead of us purchasing a new house, this is something that's actually going to give us income. It's going to be a big shift in our career and life. And I would say that, yeah, it's been great. So anyway, more of the details as we were closing.

Charles (: 12:30

which is still expensive. It's still not, but.

Seth Jenson (: 12:30

Huh.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 12:51

It was about 60-40 split and we've now actually gone 50-50 based on where we are with effort. So he's in the shop every day with me. He's solving problems with me. And again, he has a lot of operational giftings and I did not know that even as we were on the onset because he had already come out of a franchise model and was actually helping operate a few shops still in Alabama.

And so I just had not had that much experience working with him. And now we are essentially still just having the understanding of whoever is putting in the more effort. So down the road, if I become more of a passive investor, I would essentially scale my profit share down and vice versa. If he wants to scale back, he's got a little bit older family, but the hope is that we can actually be pretty fluid based on how much we're actually pouring into each of the entities.

Anyway, that's probably a more messy answer than most accountants would like to hear, but ⁓ yes.

Charles (: 13:38

Yeah, that's messy.

Seth Jenson (: 13:42

It's always messy though, right? I mean, it's very rarely. mean, every situation's unique and every relationship and it's good. It sounds like for you, what really helped this come about is it sounds like you had a relationship previously that was already strong. You'd seen each other in action and that greases the wheels so much because like you say, this is a marriage situation. This is, and I've often heard, it's interesting, you guys, it landed on 50-50. I've often.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 13:54

huge.

Seth Jenson (: 14:09

The advice you get a lot of times is do like 49 51 just so that there's like a clear decision maker. But in these situations where you really have that trust established, it's much easier to be more fluid. certainly there's so many horror stories in these types of partnerships and relationships. So really going in with someone you can trust is a must ⁓ and having that track record of each other is so important. And then

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 14:11

Yeah. Decision point. Yeah.

Yes.

Seth Jenson (: 14:34

crafting agreements that everyone feels good about and are motivated by and are really important. it's cool to see that it sounds like for me the unlock for you was that relationship, that confidence you could go in. And then you've discovered new benefits as you went along, this kind of operational capacity and things like that. And I'm curious to hear a little bit. ⁓

If you could even back us up and like, again, Charlie's the accountant nitty gritty. I'm the, you know, my, my PhD was going through like emails of like entrepreneurs and looking at like every little interaction they were having. I, know, I would be apologize to our listeners if we're over thorough with this, but I'd love to have you just tell us the story of like how this came about. Maybe just like walk us through the, okay, I I, this is where I was looking. This is how I found this company.

These are the conversations I had with my partner. Like, just give us a little bit of that timeline from when you took the plunge, so to speak, and decided, all right, this is the direction we want to go into, to today.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 15:35

Yeah. So I looked at a deal, this was summer of 2024, last summer. I would say around July, we actually had an accepted offer for a shop. It was a muffler shop in West DFW. It was going to be about an hour drive from me each way, which was brutal. I'm kind of central DFW. And so just assessing that deal and looking at the details again,

We had some light agreements on, you know, again, how would we structure this? And it was still like, I was still very skeptical because I'd been under LOI maybe three or four times and then due diligence essentially killed the deal. And so I was like, you we're to look at this. have a really good connection with the owner. I have a teammate that would be joining the team, like my partner. And so I was like, I think this could work really well.

And then long term, I either move over there. And so it's really during the due diligence of that, started to fall in love with the industry more and more. And it was probably early August that we have a call. And this is again, maybe more of the details, but we had essentially found a mishap. And I'm sure this is anyone that's looked at businesses before the way that things are presented, the way that the broker says that. And then as you look at the details, there is so many, and especially the smaller deals you look at the hairier, the deals, right. And so.

Seth Jenson (: 16:46

Absolutely.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 16:52

We basically just found a big tuft of hair and I said, hey, I think there's more hair and this is not as clear cut. And I basically requested a change of structure. It was not trying to change the price. This is a very older gentleman that did not, I could tell was not going to take a change of price very well. So I said, hey, what about changing of terms? Can we get a delay in how we pay out X dollar amount? It's about 20 % of the value of the company.

for this. so pretty rough conversation. Did not like that I was per se in the business and skeptical of how the facts were being presented. And honestly, just finding a big problem with the business to say this is not as profitable as a company. And I was not, you always have to be careful how you say things. So he pulls the seller and the broker, pull the plug. It was very ⁓ frustrating about how they did that. And again, I felt like I had good rapport.

Seth Jenson (: 17:22

Ha!

Mm.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 17:42

And then he just ghosted us completely because I thought we were getting pretty close to finding a solution. So at that point, yeah.

Seth Jenson (: 17:47

And Britton, real quick,

I just could, if you had to estimate for someone that's thinking about taking a similar path to you, how much would you tell them they need to allocate for the homework period of finding that business? Cause you just described a ton of work to go into deals that never came about, right? Like never saw the light of day, but still days, weeks, months of effort on your part. What would some expectation if you had to tell your best friend, all right, just so you know.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 18:05

Yes.

Seth Jenson (: 18:14

Give yourself this much time.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 18:16

I would say easily if you're starting from scratch and you're just hearing about this, this seems like an interesting concept. From an expectation, nine months to a year of gearing up and I don't know if that would shock some people. ⁓ My journey took a little bit longer because of a few factors, kids included. But anyway, yeah, I would say nine months to a year, you should be able to refine your search.

Seth Jenson (: 18:25

Yeah.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 18:37

Find what you'd like and execute, execute on a deal within that timeframe. There's a guy I would love to just sing his praises on this podcast is Richard Parker. He has a kind of a playbook and a coaching program. I know that there's a lot of others out there, but he was very no frills and he's just very basic. And his whole thing was here's the path, here's the path to take. And so I...

I discovered his program, I would say, in the middle of my journey and still it a huge acceleration to actually help me, again, have the confidence to say, should be, I have enough information now to pull the trigger. But yeah, just, sorry, I'm talking too much again, but nine months to a year, would say is the, cause it's, it's a big journey to assess deals. It's an emotional journey. That's probably the other big insight I would tell a good friend of mine is to say, you're going to feel like you just had your heart ripped out and you just lost a lot of time because

Seth Jenson (: 19:06

Nice.

Now that's perfect.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 19:29

something did not come to fruition that you were really set on. The big fish that got away from me was actually a printer company. My partner actually jokes with me often of like, I mean, could you imagine if you got into that printer company? And I was like, I still dream about it, man, because I thought it was awesome. And so there's always the big fish or the girl that got away. anyway, patience and endurance is huge for people that really are trying to make this dream a reality.

Seth Jenson (: 19:39

Yeah

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 19:54

And the statistics also, think, Seth, your question of how long does this take? I think the other question is who is actually successful in transacting? again, from what I've heard in a few places, and Richard Parker discusses about 90%. And I think from what I've heard, I've talked to some really smart people that have still not transacted. And not to say their intellect has crippled them, but I think sometimes you can overanalyze a deal.

Seth Jenson (: 20:02

Yeah.

Yeah.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 20:19

and nothing looks great, right? Every small business is going to have the hair on it and so you've got to be able to make yourself comfortable with the risk and pull the trigger eventually. So anyway, we're getting into details but...

Seth Jenson (: 20:31

No, that's perfect. Thank you for that insight. Cause I think people don't realize again, like you say, the emotional, you know, expense of going on this journey and how long it takes to wear that detective hat and try to suss out where the skeletons are buried and everything like that. Because once you've got that ownership, then it's your responsibility and you can find yourself in a company that's not even profitable or in really, you know, tough legal straights or whatever it might be. So thanks for that context. I think that nine to

12 month expectation is really good for people to hear. Okay, so yeah, sorry, continue with your journey then.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 21:03

jumping back into the journey, once that deal fell through, I actually had plane tickets booked to go to Alabama and see an operation in full force for about eight days. And so it was that night that I sat down with my wife. said, hey, I'm still going to go to Alabama.

because I think that there is still potential, one, that this deal could, he could come back to us, the seller could come back to us, or that I think I'm just gonna select automotive. And again, was, this was still a time that I had looked at a myriad of companies and only one of them just happened to be automotive. But this was the closest I had gotten to getting trained, getting exposure, and just honestly, it was very intriguing to me to have a community of guys, even in a different state, that were doing exactly what I wanted to do.

And so these were my partners, partners in Alabama. And I got to go out there and I essentially was in a very much of a limbo situation and having to process quite a bit of going, I gonna ⁓ do this? That trip unlocked a few really, really interesting insights for me. I think as people think about what are they looking for, technically on my paper, right?

Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the mouth. On my paper, I wanted a niche product or service. Automotive repairs cannot fit in that hole at all, right? That is the opposite. ⁓ There is, even in our area, we've got probably 20 different shops people could go to. And then the other one was an element of retail.

I did not like retail. did not want to be attached. I wanted B2B, right? And again, everyone has these great pictures of these unique unicorns they're looking for. But again, I just, I followed the process. said, Hey, let me look at this more, more intentionally, take the time. And I really fell in love with one, heavier customer interaction. That was something at my last company I was really starved of. I only got to interact with a few people every year. They were considered my clients.

Seth Jenson (: 22:31

Yeah.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 22:52

And ultimately those relationships would stop because they'd be in a different state. And I was onto a totally different industry, totally different subset of people. And so the networking was really awkward and just did not match with, I think, who I was created to be. And I love the idea of actually having relationship with these customers that are bringing their cars back, that are sending their friends to me and just kind of having a nucleus of an operation and everyone working underneath the same roof. That was the other thing. And during that trip, I said, I love how

Seth Jenson (: 22:55

Right.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 23:20

The technicians are coming in and we're problem solving with the technicians. We're finding a solution to call the customer back and saying, hey, this is what your vehicle needs and hear the benefits of it. Right. I'm not just calling you as a grumpy old person. Hey, needs control arms, fix it. And there can be somewhat of a negative perception on the industry because of that. And so there was just a lot of interesting insights that that trip unlocked for me. And then ultimately at the end of that trip, I knew that that debt, that deal was dead and I had the decision of, okay,

There's another element of this because I'm still working full time at my company and I'm taking PTO for this trip. And essentially I was able to, and again, this is just, you know, I would say God's provision and direction of my life. I was able to take a leave of absence. But again, that was another decision point to say, instead of trying to find a new project because it was at the time of transitioning projects, it's just all perfect, horrible timing, but I'm glad it all worked out.

Seth Jenson (: 23:49

Wow.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 24:08

Instead of finding a new project, had the next decision to make it, I need to go on a leave of absence and I'm just going to go find a job at an automotive repair place. Like I'm going go be a service rider. I'm going to go be a manager, whatever they need. I just need, I'm ready to start making the commitment to this industry to make that bit, whatever the business is that actually ended up buying. I want to make it a success. And so that was another really scary moment of going from a really nice standard income with great benefits to

Seth Jenson (: 24:34

Yeah.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 24:35

Hey, I'm actually putting pause on my career and having to have kind of vague conversations with my employer of what I'm doing. ⁓ But essentially, yeah, I was able to find a short-term stint with a franchise actually, a high volume shop and essentially just get three months of drinking from a fire hose, horrible hours. The shop I work out right now is eight to five. That's a little bit generous in the industry. Normally it's about seven to seven.

Seth Jenson (: 24:42

Haha.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 25:01

And this was a seven to six shop. And so I was working remote. My wife could see me multiple times throughout the day with my young kiddos. And I go from that to then every day I'm plowing in. And so there was definitely a lot of moments of, my gosh, what am I getting into? And do I want to get into this? And then again, just the dedication and determination to saying, this is how I get on base. This is how I make this a success. that resolve of going, I have to make this a success. I can't afford.

to let my family down and I need to make this a financial success, right, to continue to pay bills and such like that. We had good reserves, just other accounting practical elements. We planned well in advance for this. And so it was not until the middle of that time of working at this franchise that I found Willard and it was listed on a public site. It was also through a niche broker that only lists auto shops. And so...

We liked that. Some of the other auto shops that we found, they were listed on some of the bigger brokerages that, that's a whole other conversation working with broker brokers. But this was a really neat broker, very understandable. And anyway, sorry, there's a lot of details around, you know, multiple price and all of that, but essentially it was a well-priced shop. And Seth, I'll take a breathing space for you to ask a question.

Seth Jenson (: 26:15

Yeah, well, again, I'm just, love, it's so fun because, you know, I'm hearing your story for the first time, but I think it's such a good case study for people who are thinking about this as an option because I think, especially our generation, you know, a lot of us haven't been in industry that long. We haven't cut our teeth doing too much, right? Because we're young.

And there might be this conception of like, you know, if I get to buy this business, I get to go be the CEO of this company and I just get to swoop in and be the superhero. And when in reality, you've got to put in the work to become an expert in this particular industry and to hear your journey and how much, again, just being, you know.

in the Greece shop for three months, actually experiencing it, And traveling the country, learning from the best, seeing you put together your expertise, which was increasing your confidence, helped you know a good deal from a bad one, knew operationally what it was gonna take to be successful in this space. That's so much work, but that's what it takes. Like there's really no alternative. You're gonna have to learn, you know.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 26:59

Yeah.

Seth Jenson (: 27:20

the thousand and one things it takes to really be an expert in that space and to build a business that thrives. There's unfortunately no free lunch. there's no, you can own a business, but that doesn't mean you can run it profitably until you've done the work to establish that expertise. And so I love, again, these reality checks of be prepared for nine to 12 months of just finding that deal and having it go through. And also be prepared to do the...

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 27:27

No.

Seth Jenson (: 27:46

backbreaking work of really understanding your industry to a level where you can add value and be confident as the leader of that organization. So thank you for, again, these details I think are so helpful because it really gives the context someone needs to know whether this is gonna be right for their family and whether they're willing to put in the work that's necessary to be successful in it.

Charles (: 28:07

Yeah, I think it's really interesting too. I don't think the majority of people would take a job to prep themselves for buying a company. I think it's brilliant. And what's interesting to me, especially about automotive industry is it's a very blue collar job. Your employees and coworkers are very blue collar, which coming from a consulting background,

you would not garner very much respect or trust, especially right off the bat. And so I think it's really smart to have taken at least a little bit of a dive, learned about it. You can at least talk intelligently, right? You're not just coming in as some investor. I'm just going to make a lot of money and leave. Cause I've seen that a lot too.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 28:51

And there's definitely, again, a lot of different perspectives and almost, I would say, points into the ETA, Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition. And so I know that my entry point is definitely going to be a unique one, but I think it's hopefully showing the accessibility, obviously, with hard work. And again, I would say it's like, if you want to do this, do whatever it takes. And so that might be for somebody taking on a little bit bigger loan.

Than they were initially thinking there's always gonna be some level of risk that you're gonna have to jump and get comfortable with So long as the numbers and so long as everything makes as much sense as possible So I think community is huge to have not just again another search funder out there that has their own you know presence and such like that which can provide a lot of confidence but people to really walk into the details of the deal with and Make sure that you are making a wise decision because yeah, there's a lot of

unconscious biases that we come into any assessment with and ⁓ it's a big decision. So I think the community element for this, right, was just rapid assessment, doing a lot across the board and making sure that this was going to be a good fit for me. so anyway, just to add to that conversation.

Seth Jenson (: 29:45

Yeah.

Charles (: 29:56

Yeah.

So a weird question from, from me, like obviously automotive, couldn't do this, but did you think about starting from scratch instead of buying a business?

Seth Jenson (: 29:58

Love it.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 30:06

Yeah, I did. I thought potentially I could start some sort of small business consulting. That was a big desire. I love talking to people. I love talking with owners. And the more I sanity checked that and just had a few conversations and maybe 20, I surveyed even my local area to say, hey, who would be a small business that would want someone with a finance degree, someone that could have unique experience with technology and numbers, assessments, et cetera.

And anyway, that was a very quickly failed experiment, essentially. was like, these people are so much in the throes of the world that somebody that's coming from the outside, it's like, can fix your life. can. And again, I think a CPA is a unique position because I'm providing a service and an expertise. But for some of that's so unknown, I'm going, what I'm coming from, from Accenture Consulting, I can't just start that replication up overnight. And there's going to be zero dollars.

And the more I found out about why would you buy an existing business? really did think about that a lot and Richard Parker really helped solidify that for me is he goes every business that starts off is a bad business because you've got no customers. No, no money and You're you can't take a paycheck for the first multiple You know months he goes, but if you can buy a good business to make it a great one You know you buy the business on Monday, and then you take a paycheck on Friday, you know somewhat tongue-in-cheek joking, but

Seth Jenson (: 30:59

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 31:26

He's just going, when you have existing customer base, people calling the number, people that have already done the painful work of founding a company, it's like, why would you not take advantage of that? Why would you not utilize that platform? And so a lot of it was just very practical for me to say, I've got a lot of ideas and unfortunately those don't always land in great places. So to have something that's already tried and true, and then I can add my ideas to that is I think what was my personality, what my skillset needed.

Seth Jenson (: 31:48

Mm-hmm.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 31:51

even just to focus myself, right? That I wasn't trying to spin up four different businesses just to keep food on the table. So that's how it's.

Charles (: 31:57

Yeah, no, that makes

perfect sense. I, boy, I feel like I'm guilty of it too, right? Like I'm at the point now where I'm, just trying to spin up every business I can think of.

Seth Jenson (: 31:58

Love that.

Charles (: 32:07

I was talking with my father recently, we have to get a septic system installed somewhere. And it has been a pain to get a septic installer to file the right paperwork and all these other things. And so I've just been joking with my dad. like, Hey, like let's just start a septic company. Like we can do this. How hard can it be? Like we'll have to find installers and all this thing. Anyway, my mom, my wife, cut that off pretty quick. she said I'm already taking out too much.

Seth Jenson (: 32:31

Haha

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 32:32

You guys should

look for one to buy though. I did look very seriously at two different septic companies and I have, yeah, they're very, I think as far as I understand, very profitable and literally it's the dirty work that nobody wants to do. It's a necessity.

Charles (: 32:38

They're good businesses.

And I, I like that avenue of, Hey, if I am trying to start from scratch, I'm going to be pulled in a million different directions, trying to do a million different things. And instead, if I can focus all my energy on one thing that's already producing, I'm a lot more likely to see success long-term. I think that makes a lot of sense.

Seth Jenson (: 33:03

And you mentioned it was a good fit for your personality and kind of your skill set, which I think is true. Someone that, you know, and again, this is a broad generalization, right? But the operationally minded can get so much traction so quickly in an ETA setting, right? Where there's a concrete project right in front of them. And there's places to channel your creativity and your organizational talent.

and your willingness to go in and learn deeply and improve. Just having that thing in front of you to start tinkering with and experimenting with and building from is powerful. You can create value so much quicker than having to go through the entire time. But there's those people that have a vision and they want to bring it about and we need them in the economy too. So thank goodness for them. But I think you described that opportunity so well.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 33:40

Yeah.

Seth Jenson (: 33:51

What surprised you? In the first six months of having taken over the company, what were you not expecting or what did you learn?

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 33:59

I would always, and I think if you ask a lot of my closest friends, they would say, Britain's a people person. Britain enjoys working with people. But I think what surprised me the most is the way I've described it is thin skin. I think working in the consulting, everyone's very professional. And honestly, I was able to prepare so much beforehand for a conversation that was going to be difficult potentially. again, it was just always hyper professional.

You know, we always, I could use some big words and everyone's nod their head and, okay, we're good. But in the real life, my goodness, just dealing with conflict right then and there with a customer, right then and there with an employee and just realizing how much I would try to shrink back and go, I don't know, I don't want to deal with this. So I was so surprised of just how much my leadership needed to grow. Obviously I think people...

It's not like I'm a hothead. There's more character flaws I could have, but I think getting thicker skin is something that was not on my radar. But I would say now looking back, the last six months, going, thank goodness I've grown in that. I need this. If I'm going to be a successful entrepreneur for the rest of my life, I needed this to be able to push through hard conversations. And honestly, to stand up for myself, that's been a huge, huge surprise that I never would have expected.

would have been, know, feet to the fire very early on in my journey with this. So that's been the biggest surprise.

Seth Jenson (: 35:18

Man, I love that. Okay, I'm gonna get real nerdy with y'all here. I apologize in advance. We should have like a sound bite that signal says about to get really nerdy. But there's this area of philosophy that I love called phenomenology where it talks about our experience of being in the world and...

And it's those types of things that as you take over a business, you don't realize that like you're in a new environment, like you're accepting this different way of being in the world and things that used to apply in your previous context or your previous job might not apply here. It might feel day to day so radically different than your day to day felt, right?

And that's important because that's your life, right? That's what you wake up to every single day and what your family's gonna be subjected to and all these different things. just thinking about, and again, I think that's just one other reason to like, know, dip your toe into this as much as possible. Be as well informed as you possibly can about this context before you take the plunge, because it might sound good on paper.

But it's going to feel differently for good or for bad. You might find something that just feels so much better for your personality and your lifestyle and your skill set. But just be prepared to like accept a new reality in some cases, especially because I think in ETA more than in zero to one, often you're taking, you're exploring a new context. You might find something to buy in the industry you've worked with previously like that. does happen, but you're...

you're at the mercy of what deals are available to you at any given time, right? And so a lot of the time people do make a pretty significant industry shift when they do choose to buy. And that comes with this kind of experiential difference in their life, which is, I never thought about that before, but you're totally right. And opportunities to grow because of it. dude, I can tell you just have such a great perspective on this. Like I really think I'm...

I hope I become more like Brittan in this because these are really tough challenges you're going through and really hard things you work through, but you bring such a positivity and kind of a faith-driven grace to your situation. think I'm just really impressed with that because it could be like being dunked in cold water, right? A lot, every day.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 37:15

Yeah.

Yeah. You probably would have, you would have gotten more tears

maybe three months ago, but ⁓ it's, it's a perfect time to host it now. No. I mean, honestly, going back to the, I think, favor of, of, having somebody else with the fact that my wife has not had to take every, this is definitely a soundbite. Your spouse or whoever it is, your closest to not bring home every night, just all the stuff. And I have a, I have a good friend that actually also went through this. could suggest their names later.

Seth Jenson (: 37:28

Ha ha.

Yeah

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 37:48

He's a lot more of a cowboy and he doesn't really have like, I'm probably his closest friend that he can call and just like talk through all the struggles of business with. And to get to have an outlet has helped so much in the partner that I have. So I don't just come home and just bring my wife down into the pits of the stress that I've been working through. So anyway, just a lot of things to your point of in the midst of the cold water in the face, there's been a lot of satan, there's been a lot of blessing around me that's allowed me to keep.

Seth Jenson (: 38:00

Yeah.

Definitely.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 38:14

I think the positivity and lightheartedness in the midst of it all to go, okay, hey, somebody else is telling me that this is normal, this is to be expected, and just to buckle down and enjoy the process, right? So anyway, lots of that.

Seth Jenson (: 38:26

Yeah.

Now that you've been in the driver's seat for a while, do you feel like you've been able to make the changes you thought you'd be able to before you took the driver's seat? You surely had some plan of, I'm gonna be able to add this efficiency here, I think I'm good at this. Are you happy with what value you've been able to create in the organization now that you've had a little bit of time under your belt?

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 38:49

That's a good question. I think yes and no. I will say some of the early changes of just the almost like the cultural experience of the shop from taking in a customer, how we answer the phone, how we quote everything, how we present, I think that's been fundamental from the get go. I'm really glad that I think as we're operating. The funny thing is even thinking about starting my own company.

Seth Jenson (: 39:08

Nice.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 39:11

from scratch, it's like to get a new customer base, getting somebody that's not aware of you, someone that has never heard of you, how do you get that person to come and trust you? How do you win their business? And I mean, that is the million dollar question that everyone's after, right? Marketing and business development. And so that's something that I'm still not content with, I'm not happy with of needing to continue to grow and really get some more traction in that area.

And I would say maybe we've grown 10 to 15 % of our customer base. So that's not nothing. ⁓ But yeah, I guess you're right. Yeah. I should, I'm content. And at least in the numbers that we're seeing, sometimes it gets a little bit murky of a new customer versus someone that heard about us through the great vine of even just the past legacy, right? That we still get people coming in saying, yeah, my fam, my friends, family members used Willard all the time. And so we just naturally had this trust for you guys. And it's like,

Seth Jenson (: 39:42

Wow. Yeah.

Charles (: 39:43

Yeah, that's good in a year.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 40:04

Well, that's great because we're here to take you on and make sure we take care of you and just continue that good experience. But it's definitely been interesting to see, yes, there's been changes from day one I think we've done really well with, but there's definitely some things that we're still trying to push through and say, some of these things take so much longer than I initially had thought. I thought, you turn on marketing, you build a website, you do pay per click, all of these things translate to business the next week or the next month. And it's like, no, these things take time.

to generate those leads.

Charles (: 40:31

Yeah, patience is something I struggle with 100 % of the time, because I always want the end where I know it's going to be in five years currently, right? And it's always hard. So kind of on that, I've really been intrigued with your Facebook videos and posts. that, have you seen any traction from that yet?

Seth Jenson (: 40:32

Definitely.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 40:52

That's another really good question. So that a lot of it, it's fun because it's rekindling. I was a camp counselor. I did not have any formal internship my years in business school, which is rare. And honestly, I would not necessarily suggest that as like a thing to do. But I loved I loved working in a camp atmosphere. It's a small summer camp in the blazing heat of East Texas. Shout out to Sky Ranch out there. But

Seth Jenson (: 41:14

Yikes.

Charles (: 41:17

you

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 41:17

It was high energy and we did skits all the time for kids and so it's really fun. I was rekindling a lot of those like again creativity and let's do something goofy in the midst of a really stressful work day to blow off steam and honestly just to keep it centralized on again just we're just our brand. We want to present ourselves as a very different shop, right? It's not something that is overly professional, right? We're not going to be so super buttoned up.

but it's someone that you can know and trust and honestly just be lighthearted with when it comes to, hey, it's a very daunting thing to get your car repaired. You're potentially paying thousands of dollars to the shop. at end of day, hopefully they see through the social media presence we have is this isn't going to some greedy private equity group that is trying to gobble up money for whatever it is. these are going to real guys with real families that have real senses of humor.

And I would say it's translated, one, think just from a brand awareness. think we've gotten a lot of good, even just people that we've interviewed, people that we have spoken with that have just kind of gotten connected. I think it's resonated with some of those people. I can't say that there's a number that's fully attached to that, but my partner, Luke, he is so bought in on just making fun videos, enjoying the workplace, and even just for myself. That's really the reason why I do it. It creates such a lightheartedness.

You know, my friends that I see at church, they don't need car repairs, but they're like referencing the videos of how ridiculous we are at times. And that's fun. Like that's, that's what I would hope to have, I think. So anyway, I, there's no master strategy behind that other than that's how we get through stressful days. And we just want to enjoy the workplace and make it a fun place to work, right? That it's not just this, cause it can be a very daunting task, right? It can be very stressful. We have customers calling, asking us about all these details and just, you know,

Seth Jenson (: 42:36

Yeah.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 42:56

It can be very daunting, a job at time. sometimes even again, when you have a confrontation where a customer is not being reasonable and they've been a consistently difficult, that's, what do you do in that situation? I don't just run to make a funny video, by the way. I do deal with that situation as much head on as I can. But it's like in the midst of that, that could take my whole day away. But something that my partner, Luke, has really pushed is like, they're not going to steal our joy. They're not going to ruin the day for us. Like we're going to be in control.

Charles (: 43:11

you

Seth Jenson (: 43:24

Yeah.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 43:24

in midst of the roller coaster that this industry can be. So anyway, just a ⁓ tidbit on why we make the videos.

Charles (: 43:30

Yeah, and I'll throw out some buzzwords that I've heard floated around LinkedIn that I think fit really well and why it connected with me is authenticity. It just feels real, right? It's not super ultra produced. It's not anything crazy, right? But I feel like I know just watching a few of the videos, I feel like I know your texts, which makes me a lot more willing to go in to a shop like yours.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 43:42

Very bad.

Seth Jenson (: 43:45

Ha ha ha

Charles (: 43:54

because I already trust them even though they have no idea who I am. And I think especially, and this is maybe more of my own tangent down the road, but especially in the world that we're moving more and more towards AI and technology solutions, that authentic connection is even more valuable. And I know you're kind of in an industry where you were a ways away from AI taking over any automotive jobs.

But I just think it's really, really important to have that connection with people that you work with.

Seth Jenson (: 44:24

Yeah. And it's again, especially cool since it's all the more authentic because you've done the work to earn your place, you know, in that organization, right? You know your industry, you know your techs deeply, right? And so that's not just the marketing gimmick. That's that's say you're able to actually be there with them, which is awesome. Also, I went to Sky Ranch as a young man. So don't double shout out to Sky Ranch for the the area.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 44:43

No way. That's awesome. That's super.

Seth Jenson (: 44:48

Well, we're running out of time here, but I'd love to hear just, you know, what advice, when all is said and done, for somebody that might be in a similar situation to yours, what advice do you give?

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 44:48

Yes.

Again, it's going to be different for every person, but I think endurance is one of the biggest pieces of advice to know that there's going to be problems and bumps on the road that you did not anticipate physically, spiritually, emotionally. And I would say that it's so worth it. I would say to do it, right? That is my ultimate encouragement to somebody that's contemplating. I think this could be interesting.

If someone's willing to even fathom taking a risk and jumping out on their own, I'm going, you have enough of that in you, I think you should absolutely just go and test the waters. It doesn't need to be with a three, $4 million company, but go and take the shot and give it a full year. Give yourself time. That's what I've told myself. said, at the end of this year, I'm going to take another reprieve and time to process and really just continue to make sure that I'm doubling down on where I need to.

So I think endurance is such a critical element, grit, right? Knowing that you're going to have to jump into a different industry, but it's so worth it. I think the adventure is so worth it. The relationships and just the personal growth are unbelievably better than I ever could have imagined. Even coming, high-end consulting, PowerPoint slides,

going into a completely different industry, in as blue collar as automotive mechanic can be, and going, this is awesome. I still think this is awesome. And I would tell someone to get into somebody. And again, there's still wisdom. They're still making sure that you're not buying something that has razor thin margins, and you're not going to be able to make any mistakes, right? There's still wisdom and assessment that needs to happen. But absolutely, it's worth taking the jump.

Seth Jenson (: 46:33

I thank you so much for that. like, just, what I love about doing this podcast is too often we, the heroes of our economy are, you know.

the founders of LinkedIn and Google and all of these things. when you're listening to your average business podcast, people are talking about, you know, men and women who have built billion dollar companies and are doing X, Y, and Z. But what I love about your story, Britton, is like, you are a total hero in this space, man. Like you have built value in your community. You're employing people. And you've gone on this hero's journey that I think is available to so many people, but...

Charles (: 46:45

Yes.

Seth Jenson (: 47:08

but they don't think about it, they don't consider this option. And this is just a tranche of entrepreneurship that is the bedrock of our communities and our economy. And we just need people to be like Britain and to come and be willing to put their shoulder to the wheel, so to speak, and make this type of stuff happen. I'm so grateful for what you're doing and your openness about the journey so that people can see if that's a good fit for them. Because if all we ever hear about

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 47:22

What's?

Seth Jenson (: 47:36

is Google, we don't, we're not, that's such as the myopic view. There's so many amazing opportunities outside of that that are better fits.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 47:43

You're very

encouraging. thank you for jazzing me up for the rest of day. But I think hopefully the hero's journey of a just a normal guy that I could go on and on about how many normal experiences I had that were not exceptional and the decisions I made that were not exceptional. But again, just hopefully that's an encouragement is that there's nothing special behind, you know, Britain Boss, but it is hopefully a very achievable

Charles (: 47:48

You

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 48:09

Again, with right steps, right community, right things in place.

Seth Jenson (: 48:12

Definitely.

Charles (: 48:13

So, Bryn, if someone wants to connect with you, how can they do so?

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 48:16

Yeah, I need to update my LinkedIn because right now I think it's still outdated, but LinkedIn would be easy. Also, I can put my email in. My personal email is just britain.bost at the old Gmail. So still using that Gmail for my personal. And so, yeah, if someone wants to reach out, I would love to give my number and basically find time to talk. And I love giving people encouragement. It's free consulting, right? That's what I love to do. And it'd be too hard to put a dollar amount on that. But yeah, if someone is genuinely interested,

or someone that wants to even start a branch of Willard here in DFW, let's get on the horn and talk about it. So I to be as accessible as possible.

Charles (: 48:52

Thank you so much for coming on, Britton. We really appreciate everyone that listened and we'll talk to you next week.

Brittain Ethridge Bost (: 48:57

Okay, thank you so much, Charlie. Thank you, Seth, very nice meeting you.

Seth Jenson (: 49:00

Great to meet you too.