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From Technician to $600K Repair Shop Owner

Confession No. 120 · with Andrew Klement · October 13, 2026 · 50 min.

Listen Now · No. 120

0:0049:45

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Mike Allen sits down with Andrew Klement of Finley River Auto and Diesel to talk about what happens when a technician becomes a shop owner—but actually plans for it first. Andrew explains why he hired a coach and CPA before opening, started with a service advisor from day one, invested in systems immediately and surrounded himself with people who had already made the mistakes he wanted to avoid. The result? A greenfield startup with no existing customers that projected roughly $350,000–$360,000 in first-year revenue had already crossed $600,000 with three months left in the year. They also get into Andrew’s first employee quitting, why shop owners fail at training, how to sell repairs without high-pressure tactics, what a healthy shop culture can do for a technician’s career and the time 18-year-old Andrew invented a completely fictional “starter break-in noise” to cover up a mistake. And because it’s Confessions, Mike also gets to explain why releasing an $18,000 repair while still being owed $7,500 is probably a terrible business strategy.

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