Ep 159: The Leadership Test Every Owner Faces with Dan Thieken and Ted Cooke

The success I am today, a lot of the stuff I learned from him in just that short amount of time, to be honest with you. But at the same time, I needed to know that he was going to give me the freedoms that I needed to be able to truly run his business on a day to day basis. And there's no way there could be two chiefs working at this. I mean, there just couldn't be. You know, so leadership for me and what it means to me is trying to get, I'll say employee, but it doesn't need to be in that role. It's trying to get someone to a level that they never imagined seeing themselves. You're listening to the Limitless Leadership podcast. The podcast designed to help automotive repair shops learn how to lead, coach, train and manage their team better by sharing proven techniques and thought provoking interviews from industry leaders. Are you ready to transform your leadership skills by tapping into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results? Let's get ready for liftoff. It's time to go from great to greater. Here's today's episode. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Limitless Leadership Podcast. As you know, before we get started, I'm going to ask you to share, like, comment, do all the things you need to on social media to help this podcast impact people and build leaders just like the two leaders we have sitting in front of us today. We've got Mr. Dan Tekin and Ted Cook from Cragger Tire and Service out of Millersport, Ohio. Okay, got it. So, hey guys, thanks for being here. Dan, you're. You're no stranger to the podcast. You've been on the show before. I'm going to ask for both of you guys to share a little bit about who you are, what you do and how you do it, beginning with you, Mr. Cook. Well, thank you. Thank you for having me here. I came into the automotive repair industry back in 1985. Scoot up a little bit, Ted. Promotive believes great shops deserve great technicians. And they built a recruiting model designed specifically to deliver that. Their team understands today's technician landscape and the challenges shops face trying to hire in a tight labor market. Promotive manages the entire recruiting effort from start to finish. They source talent, proactively qualify candidates with intention, and maintain clear communication with both sides. Shops get a faster process, better alignment, and far fewer surprises. Shops rely on Promotive because they're not a job board or a software tool. They're real recruiting partners who show up and follow through. Their focus is on long term success, not short term transactions. To connect with them or begin your next search, visit gopromotive.com book a call, start a search and see how promotive helps build stronger teams. Atlantic Automotive is an alliance of leading auto repair shops. They partner with, invest in and grow exceptional auto repair shops throughout the US for shop owners looking to take things to the next level, Atlantic Automotive can help you scale with access to technology people, growth capital and operational support for shop owners looking to transition into something new. Atlantic Automotive provides a trusted home for your business and a responsible steward for your legacy. Atlantic Automotive is not a franchise, a chain or private equity group. It is a coalition of like minded auto repair shops united by a shared vision and shared resources. Atlantic Automotive is a faith based, family owned company building the number one automotive partnership organization. If you're interested in partnering, go to AtlanticAutomotiveGroup.com and fill out the Start a conversation form. We got to speed right. Right up in the mic. Right up in the mic. Yes sir. There you go. You want me to sing while I'm here? Yes, please. Now that you. Now that you mentioned it, go for it. The came into the industry back in 1985, vocational school and then continued my career from there as a technician. Worked as a technician for many years till I finally stepped into the management side of the business. That would have been later in the 90s. As I continued to grow through that. In about 2005, the company that I was working for, Procare Automotive Service Solutions, they had, they had been bought out by a consulting group and the writing was on the wall kind of where that was going. And so it just so happens that somebody that worked for that company recruited me to another company in the area. And that makes for a funny story because I was hired to go take over that location and fix a location that was broken is kind of what, it's kind of what they started using me for in, in the industry. And when I walked in the door I met Dan Tekin and Dan Tekin can tell you the rest of that. Dan, take it away. Oh yeah. So I'm Dan, by the way. Yeah. So I was long to catch up on my end of this. I left the shop that I currently own when I, I was getting married. I wanted to go make more money and be in the bigger world. Right. And I bounced around to a few of their locations and I was told I was going to have my own store and the Columbus market. And I was excited about that. And then that's where Ted entered the picture and he was Hired as the site manager, and I was his assistant. So the friendship. The friendship definitely started off a little tumultuous, to say the least. Well, and here we are how many years later? I mean, this is about 21 years. Okay, so 21 years later. Over 20 years. You guys are best of friends now, and the roles have kind of reversed a little bit. Right. So still working with each other. But if you would, Dan, I'll ask you to share kind of where we're at today. So how long you guys been back together? And what does that look like? So he started for me in May, so going on a year next month. Right. I. I knew it was going to be a big undertaking, it being hiring your best friend, hiring him for. There's lots of reasons that it could go south. Right? Sure. But I was personally confident that I can compartmentalize the friendship and the business role. And when I actually talked to Ted about coming to work on several occasions, I'm like, hey, if this ever comes to fruition, I'm not going to. Like, you're not going to. I'm hiring you to run my business, and I. As, you know, as a subordinate, but I'm really hiring you as an equal because I respected his insight into the industry and his experience. I mean, I learned so much from him that brief year we worked together. I attribute a lot of the success I am today, a lot of the stuff I learned from him in just that short amount of time, to be honest with you. I. I think there's a lot of folks who probably say that hiring your friends is probably more dangerous than hiring a family member. And we all know how challenging it can be to hire a family member. You know, what's interesting is, you know, Brett and I. And by the way, Brett's also on the show with us today, so I apologize for not introducing Brett. But, you know what's interesting is, is when Brett joined Limitless Leadership, Brett and I were friends. I mean, we are friends, but I mean, I. Brett's like a mentor to me. And. And it's kind of the same deal where I'm like. Cause I mean, we just. If you recall, Brett, there was a time he came over, we were just chit. Chatting about business and life and things, and we were kind of both having this feeling of, like, what if we start doing this together and what could that look like? And we've had a lot of conversations about how to be proactive with our communication so that we're able to continue to navigate what it's like to Work with friends and build something like we're trying to build. But speak to the listening audience about anyone who is working with family, working with friends and the good, the bad, the in between about everything that comes with it. Well, like again, I, I, I, I feel like I can compartmentalize pretty well. It can be a challenge. I mean, my brother in law worked for me for a little bit of time. Smart. He was a nuclear engineer in the Navy. Fast attack sub, smart guy. But he wasn't cut out for being there. And do I, he needed some work between jobs and he loved it there. But he just wasn't, he wasn't cut out to do it. So I said, hey, Monty, I've helped you out, but you gotta go. And he's like, I get it. And then my mom ran the company when I started there, right? And after I took over, I had to fire her. She got really mad and hurt. But it was a business decision. Is that, is that after the time that she put you up for adoption? You told me something about that or is it okay? I'm just, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. And I'm just, I mean, and you call me heartless. I don't know. But that's, it was a business decision. I just bought it. I had to kill some expenses and she had to go. Dan is a good man, everyone. He's a good man. But Christmas is awkward now. No, you know, God love her soul. She passed away. But, but she did bring that up on her deathbed. My son who fired me. God love her. This is a good show today. It's a great show. Sorry about your mother, but no, I, I, it's very difficult. I get that a lot of people said I shouldn't do this and we, we had a lot of conversation about it. Like over several years we softly played about the idea and then like, I'm all in, man. I said you, I want you. You're ready to come on board. Let's just, you know, get through this, right? Shops that thrive long term aren't the ones with the most tools. They're the ones who've stopped wasting time managing them. Techmetric is the all in one auto repair platform that brings shop management, payments and marketing together. So everything works the way it should. Your team works cohesively, your customers come back more often, and you always know exactly how your business is performing. Whether you're leading the shop, managing the front counter, or turning wrenches in the bay. Techmetric gives every person on your team what they need to do. Their best work. That's auto repair done right. Visit techmetric.com or use the link in the show Notes. All right, folks, as you know, great leadership isn't about doing everything the best. It's actually about having the right partners in your corner to build your shop success. It's about putting the right team in place. It's about choosing the right vendors to make you a pro making pro moves. And when I think about the pros, I think about shop marketing pros. The know like and trust factor, that's a real thing. And shop marketing pros understands that. That's why I want to recommend shop marketing pros to become your marketing partner in your shop. They get to know like and trust you and your business to then help your audience get to know like and trust you too, and bring your shop to the next level. So when I talk about making pro moves, this is the kind of move I'm talking about. This is the kind of standard setting partnership that's going to elevate your shop. So if you're ready to become a pro in your shop, visit shopmarketingpros.com and partner with the best. Ted, what reservations, outside of the obvious that we've already shared, what reservations did you have about this, this possibility of partnering up? Well, so, you know, when Dan and I met back in 2005, I think it was 2004, 2005, we were working without realizing it, we were working about 40 miles east of where we, we, we both lived and we didn't know that we lived that close to each other. So, you know, once we developed a working relationship, then we started developing a friendship. And after about a year is when Dan was offered the opportunity to purchase Cragger Tire. At that time, it was more tires than service. I come from the background of more automotive repair than tires. And Dan had pretty extensive knowledge in the tire part of the business. And so when he left and took over the operations of his own business, I continued to grow in the role that I had been with company. I left that company two months after Dan did. And then the next company that I went on board with, I spent the next 20 years with. I had been with that company before Young left because, you know, ProCare had basically planted a money tree in my backyard. And at that age, that's all I saw. So. But you fast forward, you know, through the years, Dan and I developed a pretty strong friendship. We take hunting trips together every year where we have a lot of seat time. And we've just talked throughout the years about our Business about what we do or obviously both in the automotive repair industry. I think Dan would bounce some ideas off of me through the years on developing more service and he become a much more service focused facility while always doing well on the tire side of the business. And then obviously he surrounded himself with some good, some good employees, continued growing that. And jokingly he would, he would bring up, hey, you know, what do you think about us getting together? What do you think about you coming to work there? And I shied away from that for a very long time because of our friendship and then also because I, I know his personality and I, and I know what he wants. Right. Compliments. But at the same time he knows mine. And I knew there was going to be some of this. We both knew that, you know, going, going into it. But the one thing that I wanted to know is because you have to understand the role that I've always played before. And you know, I've, I've been in, you know, I've been recruited to go into many locations and the last company I was with for 20 years, I managed numerous locations within that company. So when stores were underperforming or whatever, it kind of turned to me to say, hey, let's go in there, see if we can get this thing turned around performing at the level that we want it to. And so, you know, sometimes that can take a strong personality. Right. And so the one thing I didn't want to do was hurt our friendship for sure. But at the same time I needed to know that he was going to give me the freedoms that I needed to be able to truly run his business on a day to day basis. And there's no way there could be two chiefs working at this. I mean, there just couldn't be, you know, and his crew, of course, working for him for many years. I come in, I'm the new guy. If he's there every day in that kind of role, they're not going to come to me. And if I'm trying to put in some new policies, maybe some new procedures, manage the business the way that he's hiring me to manage it, I had to tell him, you got to go away in the kindest of ways, right? Like it's, I mean, and I didn't, I don't mean any disrespect to that whatsoever, but it's like, hey, I think your face needs to kind of disappear from around here so that these guys can start to trust me and we can build our relationship. And it's not that mom and dad situation where you go to mom and she said no. So I'm going to go ask dad or vice versa. Right. So I will say that I've been extremely impressed with the number of times that Dan has been asked by an employee and he says, you need to go talk to Ted. And I don't think that I would get that freedom from most owners starting out the way that I have. And I think it's just been because he's witnessed what I've done through the years and he's able to trust what I'm doing, willing to try and do for him. So we all want to do business with people we know like and trust. Right. And you guys are talking about a superpower right now that we refer to in coaching. Self awareness. It seems like you guys have level 10 self awareness of who Dan is and who Ted is at all times, and that's what's keeping you guys healthy. Right. So you're looking at year one. Right. I'm sure you guys have had some hard conversations. What is, what does year two look like for your partnership? I think it's going to be stronger. Obviously, like, like he mentioned, it's hard. The. The hard part for me was to. I had to come to the realization in my own time when I felt was the right time to do what he wanted, which is me just get, get the. Get the hell out of there. But that's hard. I'm telling you guys. I know Ted can relate or even understand this, but it so is for someone who has been there for so long and is the. Was the face of that place. Right. Just for me to like, tear out my heart and throw it. Yeah. Back into the shop and just effectively walk away short term until things settle. Right. That is hard to do, by the way. Dan. This is. You're saying it's hard with someone who you. Who you already know like and trust as well. So, so imagine how harder it is for people who you don't fully trust to be able to do the job like you do and to show up and show out and provide the high level of service that you guys do. Yeah. So keep going. I know I cut you off. I apologize. No, I'm just. I was just saying that's very, very hard. I personally think I did a lot better than I could have. Like, it could have been really bad. Sure. But we can read each other very, very well. I know when he's upset at whatever and vice versa. I just. It was a good time for me. This is it. This is. I'M gonna. I'm gonna hop off the train and just. And it wasn't. I didn't trust him. It's not that. It's just I love to be out there. And it came to the point Ted made the comment, he's like, hey, listen, when you come out here, I think it gets in the guy's heads. Yeah. I'm like, all right, I'll just stop coming around for a little bit. You know, I really admire and respect the fact that you guys have been able to communicate so well in this journey over the last year. Plus, I mean, by the time this episode airs, you would have been there now for over a year, Ted. And what I'm hearing also is how you're both seeking first to understand with each other before you're seeking to be understood. And that's important because Ted's sharing something with you, Dan, and, And. And you could immediately dismiss what he's sharing, not validate what he is sharing, and let him know what he needs to hear. And instead, you're. You're seeking to understand, and you're. You're acknowledging you're validating, and you're responding based on the suggestion. And because you already know, like, and trust, and you're building all three of those things, I'd imagine it makes things easier. So, to your point, in year two, it. It is going to be stronger, and I'm excited to see what a full year two looks like compared to year one. And you guys are likely going to be back on the show, so you can share with our audience what that's been like. Well, what's interesting to me is I feel like the one thing that his. I've noticed, and I think he would attest to it, is the cohesiveness of the team is a lot stronger now that I've stepped back for several weeks, maybe even a couple months at this point, like, really not being there. But I've noticed the camaraderie's better because there's always touch and go when you get new faces in there. Right. And then the old face isn't there anymore. I think it's gotten a lot better. Yeah, it was definitely touch and go in the beginning. You know, probably his. He has a technician that's been with him for 13 years, I think. Yeah, my legacy, my legacy employee. And, you know, he's a great employee, but I think it was a challenge for him to see because he's been there for 13 years, and Dan's always been in the business, in the daily grind, every Single day, you know, he's built it to what it is today. And so this gentleman worked with him for 13 years and then to see somebody come in and now start giving him direction and I'm a stranger, I'm a complete stranger. Right. He knew of me because I would stop by the shop and things and chit chat from time to time with Dan before I started working there. So he knew me, he knew of me, but now he's got to answer to me. Right. And that was a little bit of a challenge in the beginning, but I think it's all came around. I'll go on to say that like for Dan, the customers has been, you know, it's, it's a rural community and the customers have definitely embraced the change. But in the very beginning it was Dan. It's worse. Dan got to talk to Dan, you know, because these people have only seen dan's face for 20 years. Right. And everything that's Dan and everything that's happened to that location to become what it is today is by the, you know, the 60, 70 hour weeks that he was putting in every week to make it that place and being in that grind every single day. And so people, customers witnessed that. A piece of the story that we haven't told you yet is we also brought another gentleman to the office who has worked with me in some capacity for over 20 years. And so when he heard I was leaving, he said, you're taking me with you. And so it made it easier for Dan to be able to step away because now it's this, this, this week. We call it the TNT show because it's Ted and Tom. Right. So people see two completely new faces in there. There's no Dan. And in the, in the very beginning it was Dan can attest to. Every customer walked in the door, they didn't want to talk to either one of Tom. They, they wanted Dan, Dan and, and finally I think we've, we've won the community over. But it took some, some strategic social media from Dan to, to kind of play that role of reverse psychology to let them realize that they'll be making the decision to really like us. And they do. So you're talking about leadership. Right. And that's a testament to your leadership being present and caring after a community, putting the work in to earn that trust. Right. So that people want to and they feel compelled to come and do business with you. Right. And so that's a perfect segue in this, on this question right here. You don't mind? I'm Gonna ask it. What does leadership mean to you, Ted? So leadership for me, and what it means to me is trying to get, I'll say employee, but it doesn't need to be in that role. It's trying to get someone to a level that they never imagined seeing themselves. Yeah. Having them exceed their own expectations, helping to challenge them to be more than they ever thought they could be. And I, I have a few success stories in this business where I've, I've helped some, some people get to that level. And it's the greatest feeling ever. Right, Ted, Sorry, can you share? Because there's, There are people listening or watching if, if you're not watching this episode, of course, you can go to YouTube at the Bearded leader. You can see this episode is being recorded live in person at Tectonic 2026, presented by Techmetric, a great sponsor of the podcast. Someone's listening or watching this episode and they're thinking, man, I've heard so many people talk about what leadership is in the way of developing people to elevate them, to enhance them, to be the best version of themselves, but I don't know how to do it. Can you share one success story that you can think of that that will help someone recognize, hey, this is possible. And here's an example of what that looks like. Absolutely. So there's a few that come to mind. One that comes to mind is a young man that I, believe it or not, I hired when Dan and I was working together when we first met still, and his name is Anthony, Anthony Reese. Young kid at the time when I hired him, and I hired him to change oil. And he was, he's a bigger fella. And. But he was a young kid when I hired him. Probably, I don't know, 19 years old. 18. 19 years old. And yeah, I just saw something in him. Right. I knew his desire was there, but I also knew that by his size and stuff that, that you could just see that that's been a concern of his for years and maybe cut him short in a lot of areas of his life. And so as, as I continued working with him, I was only at that company for a year, and so I worked with him every day, but I saw potential in him. And when I left there after Dan had left, I stayed for about two months, and then I went on to this company I was with for 20 years. Well, I recruited him over to that company as well, so recruited him over there. And basically, you know, it was a, you're going to come over here and do the Same job that you're doing there, but there's going to be some opportunity for you to grow. So we took him from, you know, we worked with him, took him from the GS position. He wanted to be more into the customer service side of the business. So we got him into the front. He started writing some service. He became an assistant manager. We started implementing a new point of sale system in that company. He's, he's, he's a pretty good IT guy. And so we implemented it in my location that we was remodeling. And then we helped him to train others. And then I pulled him over to the next location I went to as my assistant manager. And then before I left, we promoted him to manager. So he's now managing the site that I left to come to work for Dan. And just as, as Brett shared earlier, this is a testament to your leadership, Ted, where people like Anthony are following you, the leader, if they're following you, the person, because of how you show up for them, who you are for them, how you help him see things that he didn't see. He's tapping into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results because of your leadership, the level of influence that you have as a leader. You know, one of the questions we ask on the, on the podcast is what is the best advice you've ever received from a coach or a mentor? I would, I would assume that Anthony would probably have a great answer to this question about you. I'm going to turn the tables and ask you, Ted, best advice you've ever received from a coach or mentor. And that's. I got to tell you, so God has placed a lot of people in my life, right? And I mean, people that have. That believed in a long mullet, long mullet, hair wearing boy, you know, that, that I had people see and trust in me and help me to achieve goals that I never thought that I could achieve in this industry that I love dearly. This is my 41st year in this industry. It's all I've ever done. But I just had a man that believed in me one time and he told me to always be true to myself. And I think just his encouraging words and the way that he said that, you know, I've always tried to follow through with that and be true to who I am and what I believe. And I think that's probably been one of the most encouraging things. And I know that sounds. Anybody can say that, right? Anybody can say, well, always be true to yourself, but there's a lot It's a lot deeper than that. You know, you got to believe in yourself, yourself first. That's it. You know, it's deeper when, when someone says, be true to yourself. And that someone is, is. Is one person, maybe not amongst a lot who believe in you. And, and I'm sure, Ted, you've had a lot of people in your life who believed in you, but to have one person, some. Unfortunately, some people never hear these four powerful words, which is, I believe in you, and all it takes is one. Like, if one person says, ted, Dan, I believe in you, all of a sudden you're starting to view things differently and subsequently do things differently. It's a massive shift in perspective and a paradigm shift that could send you on a completely new trajectory over the course of your life. And, man, just imagine how different your life would be if you didn't meet that person. And so I like the fact that you're acknowledging how God has put some people in your life. And, you know, they're there for a reason. And I would encourage anyone listening or watching this episode to consider the people that are in your life. It's for a reason. I believe there are people who God is putting in our lives who are actually depending on us to fulfill God's purpose for our life. Like, they're in our life and they're depending on us. They don't know it, we don't know it, but they might be depending on us to fulfill God's purpose for our life. And if we look at it like that, we might start showing up a little bit different, a little bit better, a little bit more intentional. And all of a sudden, someone's going to start feeling something. It's. They're going to be moved by your level of influence, your. Your energy of your leadership, rather than the weight of your title. I've had. I've had some, you know, some associates, employees, people that I've worked with throughout the years that have sent me some, you know, some pretty encouraging things after, you know, they started believing in themselves and trusting themselves and reaching goals that they had never set for themselves because they never thought they could achieve those goals and then finding out that they could. And, you know, I had a technician that I hired as a very young man, and I just, I thought a lot of this young man, and I knew that he, he, he. I just knew that he had it, you know what it is, you know, and I knew he did. And, and I, and I trusted and I believed in him. And, you know, I worked with him for years he, we worked to develop him every way that we could. We could. And a lot of that is. Isn't always on fixing cars. Right? Yeah, that's right. A lot of other things that go into. To life. Right. And one day, so, you know, we separated years ago because I went to a different location. So now he's no longer specifically working under me. Right. But then one night in the middle of the night, you get a message, you know, and him thanking you for how you believed in him and how. And if I could find that, I wouldn't mind actually reading it. Go for it. Yeah, yeah, go for it, Ted. And while you're thinking, while you're finding it, Dan, I'm going to put you on the spot. I've already asked you the question of what's the best advice you've ever received from a coach or mentor while Ted's finding this, Think about the best advice you've ever received from Ted. I would love to. You guys have known each other for a long time. If you have it now, feel free to share. But otherwise I'll have to think about that. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Be thinking we still got a few more minutes of this episode, but, but Ted's about to. About to share the text that he is referring to. So if you're okay, I'll just, I'll read this to you. He said, hey, I know it's been a minute since we talked, but I've been thinking on a lot of my past lately and I just want to say thank you for helping me through a lot of things when I was lost and for believing in me and giving me a space to become a proper technician. It took some years to see the end goal, but it's paid off more than I could have ever imagined. And I couldn't have gotten to this point without you. Just wanted you to know that. Hope you're doing well. I'll stop in and visit soon. That's what leadership means to me, you know, that's good. I mean, I have a lot that I'm thinking about right now. But you know, you mentioned lost God and you mentioned God earlier too. So I'm gonna go ahead and hit on something. God expects us to go after his lost kids. Yeah. And you just displayed that in a caring factor that made all of us proud. Right. I'm proud to listen to that story. And I promise you, God is sure you changed his life forever. I'm proud to have a few of those in there. Yeah, that's not the only one. But. And, and if, if we can continue to do that and for the listeners, if you're not showing up to be the type of leader that people deserve and you don't know what that looks like, look towards mentors, look towards coaches. They can help pave the way for you. Right? We're, we're meant to be salt and light in every single room and every single conversation we walk into and listening to your story, Ted, I, I, I've already got some gold nuggets that is helping me, right, with my engagement and coaching and leading our team. So I, I thank you for that. So, going back to you, man, what you got on the best advice that Mr. Ted Cook? I mean, I'm not sitting here and go back through 21 years of advice, because there's been a lot of it, I'm sure. I think the most, the most important thing in recent times would have been we've had conversations about charging what you're worth, and he hit on that. I don't know, probably back in 18 or 19. I forget what year it was, and I started thinking about more of that. So I would say that's probably one of the bigger helpful pieces of nuggets he's told me. Strong. Gentlemen, thank you both for being on the show. Any parting words of wisdom for our listening audience before we sign off? Just don't be a jerk. Don't be a jerk. That was the advice he gave last time. Don't be a jerk, folks. Guys, thank you so, so much for being on the show. Thank you again for tuning in to another episode of the Limitless Leadership podcast. As you know, we look to transform our leadership skills by tapping into unrecognized potential to achieve limitless results. So thanks again, everyone. Have a great day. Don't forget to smile today. Tell your loved ones how much they mean to you. I'm Josh Parnell and Brett Beitler reminding you to keep leading. Well,