#15 All Access Better Tech 2025 Goals
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[00:00:00] Hey, what's up everybody? Gene Fetty with the Automotive Appearance Institute back at you with another episode of our all access podcast. This is number 15. Today, uh, we had somebody message in that they want to know how to be a better tech. Now, I don't know if they're a PDR tech or a body tech, but they want to be a better tech.
And I think there's some good overlap in there. So we're going to talk about how to be a better tech. Uh, coming up and how to set goals or how I set goals, uh, right, coming to the end of 24 into the beginning of 25 when everybody gets, uh, sort of energized to, uh, get reset and hit go for the next year.
Right. So we'll give you some of my best practices. So how, how, what can you do to become a better tech? Working on your lighting or reading reflections, [00:01:00] uh, like if you want to talk about whether you are a body tech that is trying to figure all of this out, or you are a PDR tech, call it maybe newer PDR tech, trying to master this art out or figure this art out, uh, like my son on the other side of the wall practicing that you may hear.
Some occasional taps with, uh, learning to see with your, your light, be it a fog or a line board. Um, not just learning to see, but learning to read the nuances. I've got another gentleman that, that do a little bit of advanced training for, uh, and he's a line guy and he sent me some pictures or videos. And he's like, I'm not sure what I'm looking at.
I'm like, me either, because you're using lines and lines are stupid. Not really. Lines just aren't how my brain works. Uh, but I really truly believe that a fog shows you more than the lines show you or [00:02:00] certainly lets you see more subtleties. So take the time to take a deep dive into learning how to read the light.
Uh, even in, in putting the, the training program together, uh, that my son is using that we're going to be recording very soon this, this coming week or this past week. I'm not sure when this episode drops. Anyways, we're going to have a, uh, a new, uh, glue, pull repair for PDR beginners or learning PDR, uh, and just working through the nuances.
of how to read the light, what you're seeing in the light, how to adjust the light to see exactly what's going on, to be able to take your repairs as far as possible. There is a huge, huge benefit. So whether you're a body tech coming in or a PDR tech looking to get better, right? Learn how to use that light.
Speaking of learning, next up on my list is [00:03:00] continuous learning, continuing to, uh, ingest knowledge. Uh, so I've been, uh, PDR Tech since 2002. We're coming into 25. So I'm coming up on 23 years, not quite yet, but I will be there. I still am looking for better ways to work, faster ways to work, cleaner ways to work.
And I'm always trying to get. better education on the technical side. I always listen to other trainers. I have, um, a dent trainer. I've been in real world, right? Just listening how the other teachers teach to try to get better at teaching, to try to be able to convey my ideas more clearly to my students.
You need to do the same thing and listen to other I've gone and worked with technicians that have had, uh, training with Jim at real world, like in person training and had training with me. And they were like, [00:04:00] well, I like how Jim explains this, but I like how you explain this. Exactly. Find different instructors.
To consume knowledge from and figure out who teaches you or how they teach you what you're trying to learn at, at that point, right? Like maybe I explain how to knock down differently than Jim does or than Mike does or than Mike Seawall does. And you can grasp that or maybe Mike. Toledo does a better job of explaining lines and how that works than anybody else, right?
Because he's like the line master. You have to find an instructor that speaks to you, that teaches you, that, uh, explains things to you how you learn. But that thirst for more knowledge, learning new things. Definitely a way to always get better go to the advanced skills seminar Hopefully Keith and Shane and Bryce will be putting another one of those on this summer And hopefully they [00:05:00] don't schedule it on a weekend that I'm busy when I can't go Keith consult with me before you schedule this date brother I'm just kidding, but I would love to make it.
I've gone to quite a few of them. And in fact, I've gone to more than I've missed. Um, go to meetups. Uh, I think I saw that, uh, Jon with dent reaper and somebody else is doing like a class. We'll have to get more details. Check out dense and dreams podcast or their dent nerds podcast. I'm sure they'll talk about it.
Uh, but like always be learning the next point. The next thing I want to come to is. Not practice makes perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. So what do I mean by that is when you are, certainly when we go back to when we're learning, right? All the times I taught with Kiko, when I'm teaching my son, when I'm teaching other people, when you're trying to figure out a new [00:06:00] process, right?
If you're really practicing to learn, don't just try to go straight to real world. Okay. Uh, which can have, um, multiple facets that are, that are different or that are difficult to deal with, create controlled damage to teach yourself perfect theory and execute on perfect theory, and then take that perfect practice and perfect theory to the real world and apply your perfect, uh, process to real world damage.
I hope that makes sense. Dylann, maybe we can make like some sort of big, crazy. of, of how perfect practice makes perfect. Did you catch all that or you're so Dylann is so entrenched and this technology nightmare I stuck her with today. So we got another, a third matching camera, kind of that's a third evolution of our cameras that we use for [00:07:00] our classes.
Uh, and in trying to make Dylann's life easier, I think it made it more difficult by introducing some wireless cameras. Transmitters that transmit the HDMI signal. Poor Dylann is hooked up to a switcher recording the podcast way overkill for what we need for a podcast, but she just, she's so stuck over there.
She can't even talk. Yeah, I'm, I'm definitely in the trenches right now for our, I know that the audience can't see it, but there's like a. couple second delay between the audio that's coming in my ears and the video stream that's coming in. So I'm like working fast and furious trying to make these cuts.
So I do apologize if for to our video listeners, it seems a little chaotic at first, but I'm getting the hang of it. You'll be all right. You should probably just take the headphones off and be alive. That's kind of what I'm feeling at the moment. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty funny to watch her sit back there and struggle though.
So, so, so Dylann, can we [00:08:00] make like an animation of my Um, perfect practice to make perfect damage, to practice perfect theory, to take your perfect theory and your perfect practice and then apply it to real world repair something. Did you got that? Yeah. Yeah, totally. Yeah. I got that. Um, I think she's trying to give me an aneurysm.
I think she's lying to me anyways. put practice time in, uh, even so me and John Zan, whatever you want to call them. Uh, we did, uh, uh, uh, in person, uh, like six day intensive, uh, advanced training workshop. And when we talked perfect theory, we walked everybody through it. And the one thing I'm thinking is these like really sharp, not necessarily, I didn't even know that they were stretched, but they were sharp, deep shots.
Like, I think we took phenolic tips, it smacked the panel. So real nasty shot that if you work it perfectly, it works [00:09:00] up really fast. And if you don't work it perfectly, it works up really slow. So we went through the theory where we went through the practice and talked about it and everybody was like, I got this, I got this, I got this.
And then everybody went to their workstation and proceeded to. up the dent, right? And not make it right. You need more than perfect theory. So you need your perfect theory on your perfect damage and then create that perfect damage and practice on that so that when you run into the real world and you see that, that sharp, nasty, deep shot, right?
You can go and execute perfectly. on it. That's part of what makes John so incredible at what he does is the dude just doesn't make mistakes. And it's because he's put so many reps in on perfect practice on perfect damage to a perfect level. Catch it. You see a trend Dylann? No, [00:10:00] no, nothing. It's perfectly clear.
I mean, perfectly muddy to you. Yep. Absolutely. Perfectly muddy. This whole thing today. Yeah, it's crazy. Uh, anyways, like. Make that perfect practice. Next up is networking yourself, networking in the industry. Learn or don't learn. Don't be afraid to throw yourself out there and network, be it on social media at MTE.
Like I sort of threw myself into the mix originally a little bit on dorting. com and then heavily. Uh, in Facebook and that led me to those Facebook things led me to my first M. T. E. and my M. T. E. and Facebook led me to PDR Nation and meeting people and going to town and fast forward to here I am today all because I threw myself out there and decided to network and reach out, uh, and, uh, [00:11:00] Growth, right?
Like spread my wings. So get out there and network shame, not shameless plug, but here's a plug for MTE. So mobile tech expo 2025 is happening in Orlando next month, January 30th, 31st and February 1st at the Gaylord Palms. There will be a bigger call, a bigger, uh, group. I can't think of a collective group, a big collective group of dent techs.
The biggest collection. There we go. It's going to be the biggest collection of dent technicians, maybe two have ever been brought together because MTE gets bigger every year. You should be there. You need to be there and start introducing yourself. Even if you're just learning, you're not comfortable what to do.
Uh, go talk to people, go talk to myself. There's plenty of guys just like me that are super happy to stop and talk and work through, go to education day, learn what you can learn. Uh, like, [00:12:00] but get out there and, and talk, or if you can't make it, or even before then get into some of the Facebook groups, start asking questions, go to YouTube, find all of these guys that are putting out these great videos on YouTube or Instagram and start engaging with them.
Ask questions. How did you do this? What tool was that? How did you learn to get here? Go back and listen to the podcasts, uh, right? All the episodes of PDR college, the old PDR tool time. Podcasts. Go to meetups. Uh, we're sort of through the dense for kids meetups, but keep an eye out because there's pop up meetups all over the country that seemed to happen all year long.
Get out there, put yourself out there and meet other like minded people. Right. Or even find, right. As we come, come down to my last one is pushing yourself and pushing your limits. Find somebody else that is, that is, At your same level, right? If you're a newer tech, find another newer tech and you can sort of push [00:13:00] each other If you're a little bit higher up find a couple of people to collaborate with collaborate with people like the PDR 20 group Find a group like us and get in there and start pushing yourself to be better if you're not failing at repairs You're not pushing yourself to grow Right?
22, almost 23 years in, I still a couple of times a year fall flat on my face on a repair because I try, right? I win way more than I lose, but I still fail a couple of times a year. When I go look at videos that like Bryce Kelly puts out or Ken Clark, the man of steel on YouTube, when I go watch the metal that those guys are unfolding and moving out, it makes me.
Question what's possible, but like, you see what they can do and I've met both of them and they're really humble guys and they're not [00:14:00] magical, right? They're not actually from another universe. All right. They just stepped up and said, well, I'll give it a go. So. Step out of your comfort zone. Try that bigger smash, right?
But slow down and take your time and make it happen. Try that deeper dent. Try that sharper dent. Get the power PDR box out or the CBH 100 from Cam Auto and use the shrinky box to shrink up that stretch dent. Put yourself in a hailstorm and watch some of these veteran guys save these panels that you look at and you're like, there's no way you can even do it.
And then before you know it, they've got it and it looks great. Yeah. Right. Learn to get uncomfortable and push yourself into, uh, bigger, harder, more difficult repairs. Dylann. Yes. Do you have any tips on becoming a better technician? Oh, well, I'm not a technician, so I feel like I can't really speak to that, but [00:15:00] how do you get better at life then?
How do you get better at life? I would say just believing in yourself and having confidence in yourself. That's something that I know that I've personally struggled with throughout my time, but definitely within the last year or two, just putting the work in and being with equipment all day, every day, it helps improve your confidence, which can improve your ability in the long run.
Like just having that confidence in yourself, I think is Really helpful just jump in and figure it out Yeah, especially when your boss throws new cameras and new equipment at you Oh, I know like what guys when I tell you I walked in this morning and there was three boxes on the table And he set them on my desk scoot stuff off my desk Just to be like here here's all of this we have to figure it out today Yeah before Thursday when we record that next class Yeah, and today is Monday when we're recording this which it'll be out Monday, the 23rd.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this is a week earlier. Yeah. It's like a time machine. Do do do. [00:16:00] Yeah. Do do do do do do do. What's the back to the future magic number? Wasn't it 88? It was 88 miles an hour. Yeah. That was the magic number in the GPRM master class too. Did you know that there's a, you can actually find the flux capacitor on, it's either auto zone or advanced auto parts if you put the part number in.
You're kidding. Nope. The flux capacitor is out there. You have to find it and put it in the show notes. Wait, that's hilarious. I wonder if you can actually order one or if it's just like a fun little thing to do. Nah, I think it's out of stock. Ah. I see. Yeah. They don't want you time traveling. Exactly.
Exactly. But yeah, just have confidence in yourself and just work through things. If you have the confidence, you can do it. I like it. So that is five ways. You can be a better tech in 2025 or really, I mean, in 2026 or 2027, I don't think any of those are going to not apply to being a better tech, right?
It's just good things to do. So [00:17:00] Dylann, I'm going to kick off the next section with you. So how to set goals in 2025, uh, and Dylann brought a cool. That's not like Acronym. Acronym. That's it. Yeah. Dylann brought a cool acronym in this morning and I was like, oh, I like that and I'm gonna save my favorite GSD Get shit done for last in this list.
So we're just mixing it up a little bit. So Dylann, what's your, what's your acronym? Not Acrisure Stadium, because it will forever be he field. Uh, what's your acronym and what's it stand for? Okay. So for setting and keeping your goals, setting and meeting your goals, I should say in 2025, an easy surefire way to give yourself motivation, stay committed to your goals is by setting SMART goals.
So SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound goals. [00:18:00] So you want to set a goal similar to Like a smart goal would be to complete the GPR master class at AAI Within the next three months. That is a specific goal. It's measurable It's achievable because you can certainly finish it in the next three months It's relevant because it's relevant to your profession and it's time bound because you have three months to get it done And you can do this with Really?
I mean, whether it's training or if you want to raise brand awareness for your company, if you want to set certain goals for, um, not income, but what I wouldn't sure. Yeah. Sales, sales, right. Revenue. Yep. Yeah. So it's something that this is something that I picked up in school. It's been beat into our brains the last couple of years.
So It was kind of interesting to hear that you didn't hear about it before. No, I didn't. Yeah. This is the first time he dropped it on me. I like it. What, so what, what jumped [00:19:00] out to me isn't every single step in it, uh, but certainly like specific, be very specific in what you're going after. Don't make broad generalizations, but be like, I'm going to achieve that.
We are going to record the next lesson for AAI on Thursday. Very specific, um, it'll be recorded and ready for production by. Right. Like the following Friday, right. And less than one week from when it's recorded, it's going to be there. Um, measurable, uh, I don't know if that one's measurable or not, but it is achievable.
Yes. And for measurable, it could be like, I want to hit 40, 000 in sales. Right. That's a specific number for, I guess, education. You could say, I want to complete three courses that could make it right. I like it. Uh, and then, uh, relevant and wishy washy on, but time bound. Absolutely. I am the best. [00:20:00] Best procrastinator in the world.
And there's nothing that gets a procrastinate procrastinator moving faster than that hard deadline, that hard line in the sand. So there, and certainly I think if you put all five of these together, right, you're super solid, but there's the, those couple that's specific, uh, measurable, achievable, and timeout.
Like those are all really, really. Strike, strike me, right? Like they stick with me. It's a smart way to set goals. I see what you did there. Joke of the day, because Dylann does a joke of the day now on the whiteboard. What kind of motorcycle does Santa like to ride Dylann? Is it a Holly Davidson? It is. It is a Holly Davidson.
That's my favorite. I love the joke. The dad jokes are good here. Uh, so. Um, check in on yourself and your goals, right? So, uh, you know, end of the [00:21:00] year, beginning of the year, like the time we're in, everybody wants to set these goals. Everybody gets fired up about setting the goals and then nobody checks in on anybody.
And then next year you're like, what are we going to do this year? The same shit we said we're going to do last year that we didn't do. Right. So make sure you're coming back at specific times. That's actually one of the things we do in the 20 group is, um, we will be talking goals for the next year.
Sometimes we'll even do quarterly goals. And then as the year goes through, we will come back in and hold the group accountable and check in on those goals, right. To see where you're at, to see if you have to shift, right. Because so like we're in the PDR business, And a hail year is a whole lot different than a non hail year.
And a gigantic hail year is a whole lot different than a hail year or a non hail year. Right? So as the year progresses, uh, you may need to be shifting your focus and, uh, Jumping [00:22:00] to, uh, a different path or, uh, maybe there's opportunities that popped up that you need to shift focus to. And man, we, we landed a deal with X, Y, Z, big company.
We need to get more subcontractors. We need to get more employees. We need to bring more in house. We added, we decided to add a window tent. We added another service to the shop. Like as the year progresses, go back in and check back on yourself, uh, and see what's going on. Stay accountable, right? Much like that practicing, like how to be a better tech, find other like minded people that you can be accountable with.
Don't pick up Billy Bob Joe from the bay next to you who doesn't care about a job. It comes in, you know, make sure that you're connected with them. People, that's what social media is for. If it's not in your shop, you can find it on social media. Exactly. And that, and that goes back to more of the networking, [00:23:00] right?
If we look at like, uh, like in the podcasting space and in this space, look at smash masters, you know, Nick priest and Stephanie, she met up through social media and helped each other grow. And now they're podcasting together. Right. That's just a, that's a good, uh, Vision of, of working together and what can happen and finding people and finding people to help hold you accountable.
Again, I hate to keep harping on the 20 group, but that is a big thing of what the 20 group does is we help keep each other accountable and in check and pushing ourselves each and every year to continue to get better, right? So go out and find somebody to stay accountable with. And my last tip is actually.
Probably my biggest tip, my best tip or takeaway. Our favorite. What's that? Our favorite. It is our favorite. Uh, and that is going to be, I've got to tip a hat to Andy Frisella. Uh, [00:24:00] he's the MFCEO project back in the day. Now it's real AF and I believe he's bringing back the MFCEO project. But anyways, I can't remember the episode.
If you Google, uh, Andy Frisella power list. Maybe we can find it and put it in the show notes. Um, it's got an episode where they talk about this. So a power list, Andy's power list. And I don't, I think he's the like just most modern person who has coined it. Um, Um, and, uh, actually sells a physical hard copy book on his website, uh, which is Andy for salad.
com. So the power list, the way this works is every day you are making a list, uh, of three to five actionable items that you have to get done today. He came up with this book or, or, or put this, this theory into play because everybody overestimates what they can achieve in a year. And [00:25:00] underestimates what they can achieve in a day, right?
All big things are done one step at a time. It's the whole, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, right? You can't, you've never heard that. Are you serious? How would you eat an elephant? Dylann, you would get overwhelmed and curl up in the ball and cry. I wouldn't eat an elephant. They're too cute.
Well, if you were hungry and it was already dead. Okay. If it was already dead, but like dead, Don't make me point a gun at it. Well, I'll shoot it for you. Then you just eat it. Depends how hungry you are. You're missing the metaphor. It's a daunting task, right? So you do it one bite at a time. It's one step at a time.
How do you run a marathon? You put one foot in front of the other and in front of the other and you do you run a marathon one step at a time like that's how you get there. So the power list is the same thing and you don't need a fancy book. You literally can open up a notebook and do this, but the theory is It's three to five actionable items that [00:26:00] you need to do that day.
At the end of the day, you go through your checklist or as you go through, you say, check, did this, check, did this, check, did this, check, did this. When you hit all your checklists, you won the day. The more days you win, the more weeks you win. The more weeks you win, the more months you win. The more months you win, the more years you win.
Does that make sense? Perfect sense. Yes. So it is literally taking everything and knocking it down to bite size pieces. So if we look at this week, or if we look at today, it is, we're prepping to shoot this intro to PDR through Glupal repair course on Thursday. So, right, we need to, we need Check all of the technical camera gear, right?
That is part of what this podcast shoot is for is we're ahead of schedule by doing this, but we're testing cameras or we're [00:27:00] testing wireless devices and we're testing switchers and we're testing different audios to make sure it works. We'll have to clip in a picture of what's going on. Yeah. I took a little selfie before we started.
Okay, perfect. We'll insert it. Um, Um, we are outlining, right? Going through, uh, and making sure that the entire outline is set up. So like check technical data, boom, set up outline for course, boom, check Dylann's breaking stuff. No, we just had the camera. Yeah. Is it? Okay. That's all right. Whatever will be okay.
It's a podcast, man. This is live. I mean, it's recorded, but it's live recorded anyways. Uh, right. So check, uh, and then deal with technical shooting of showing a subtle high spot on a panel, right? That's later this afternoon after the podcast is done, we go out there. [00:28:00] But if those are my three steps, boom, boom, boom.
I check those off. Of my action items, right? The power list today. I won today. We'll come back tomorrow. Actually we'll reassess at the end of the day, figure out exactly what needs done tomorrow. Three to five actionable items, put them on the list, knock them out and win the day. It is, I don't do it all the time, but when I am working the power list and hitting it hard, it is incredible how much you can accomplish.
Uh, if you go back and listen to that episode, uh, Andy built his, I think free form is his. Company, he built that whole company based on, or by doing the power list, right? Like these three, five things, boom, done these three to five things, boom, done. He got up there. He ate it one bite at a time, right? He ran it one step at a time.
So the power list is an incredible way to achieve your goals, to stay accountable, to re like, if you think about it, a lot of this advice I gave you, if you go back to the [00:29:00] power list, You go right back and they fall right into place there. So it is pretty cool stuff. That was a lot. I think that was a lot.
That was a good bit of information, but it's such good, valuable information. Like anybody and everybody listening, like even if you're not a full blown tech yet, you're just starting out or you, you're a seasoned seasoned veteran. Like this is good, solid advice for. Oh, yeah, there was something for everybody in the show, without a doubt.
And like, how good does it feel to cross stuff off when you get it done? I'm not really a big list guy, but man, my wife, Melissa is a list machine. Yeah. Sometimes I put myself on the list. If you know what I mean? Huh? Yeah, it works. It doesn't always get crossed off, but it gives me a shot, but it's motivation, motivation.
Ah, so. [00:30:00] If you've got any tips for goal setting Jack Bucknell, I'm talking to you cause like you were the goal setting goal crushing is dude. I ever met. If you've got a tip or technique for this, send it over. I would love to hear it. We're always looking for ways to get better at. life at business, at being better human beings.
Uh, if you need accountability or some of this 20 group stuff sounds like it might make sense to you. I think Dylann is going to try this fancy new switcher and put up on the screen the QR code, uh, head on over to pdr20group. com fill out an application. I would love to talk to you about the group and see if maybe you'd like to We are a good fit for you, right?
Maybe, maybe not. Maybe it makes sense. Maybe it doesn't fill out the application. Let's chat it up. Uh, on January 9th, 2025, we are doing our first also why we're testing this equipment out, uh, we're doing our first [00:31:00] live glue pole repair webinar. Think of it like, uh, if you came to a demo and I got to come out and demo for you and show you the latest tools, how simple the process is to follow, answer your questions one on one, show you exactly how to do it and some of what is possible with Glupo Repair.
Seats are limited, head over to the QR code on the screen or it's autoappearanceinstitute. com forward slash webinar. And you literally forgot the best part. What did I do? It's free. Oh, it is free. Yeah, absolutely free. No strings attached. A hundred percent. Yes. Just come and check it out. Uh, and, uh, that's Thursday, January 9th at 7 PM Eastern.
Uh, and I figured we're gonna go for at least an hour or two, like pack some popcorn, maybe grab a beer cause it's after hours, hang out, let's take a little dive into glue pole repair. , [00:32:00] MTE 2025, January 30th. That's Thursday is Education Day, uh, Friday and Saturday 31st on the first. Also, if you are a beginner or a newbie and you're just finding this and you were looking for more information on Wednesday, the 29th, there is a half day education through MTE.
Head to mte. live to get the details on that. On Thursday, Thursday morning, I will be doing a, uh, unfolding large damage using glue pole repair, uh, sort of an advanced class, uh, in the morning. Uh, in the afternoon, myself, Matt Moore, Corey Kleinfeldt, Christopher Wray, and Dave Detlef are bringing back the ever popular shop owners round table.
I am sure that it's going to be even bigger and better than last year. you If you have questions about what you would like or suggestions as to what you would like to hear us talk about, and we didn't [00:33:00] talk about it last year, send us a DM, drop us an email, admin at auto appearance institute. com. We will take that into consideration as we meet, uh, and, and try to deliver the best possible shop owners round table possible.
You can also go back if you would like on our website, auto appearance institute. com. We have last year's shop owners round table up for free. Just register for the class. Again, no strings attached, hop in there and check it out. And I think that is it. Dylann, anything to add to the show today? Um, no, you can also find our other MTE talks from 2024 at auto appearance institute.
dot com. Nice. Yeah. I think that's about it. We should make like an MTE page. That's what I put all MTE on there. Yeah. Yeah. We'll put to give that to the web girl. That's Dylann. That's [00:34:00] me. All right, guys. Thank you so much for listening on your favorite podcast app. Go give us a rating. Give us a review as long as you don't hate us.
If you hate us and just turn it off. But if you do like us and do like what we're bringing to you, go leave us a review that helps us reach more people, uh, to share the show with more people. You know what I mean? And give us a follow on social at auto appearance Institute everywhere we post. All right, guys, I will catch you on the next episode.
Bye.
