August 25, 2023 • 41 mins
Luke's Auto is an automotive repair shop that cares about people and is devoted to Honest, Quality, Auto Repair. They're proud to offer an industry leading 5 year 50,000 mile nationwide warranty! They are also committed to doing good through starting a Trade School for low income youth and donating 20% of their profits to charity! Mett the Founder, Luke Walker!
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Episode Transcript
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Columbus and Central Ohio have a richhistory of companies being headquartered here, everything
from technology, manufacturing, retail,insurance, and more. But what about
the leaders behind these companies? Whatmakes them tick? How did they get
their start? This is where youget to meet the captain of the ship.
Welcome does CEOs You Should Know andiHeart Media Columbus Podcast. Welcome back
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to another episode of CEOs You ShouldKnow and I Heart Media Columbus Podcast.
I'm your host boxer. This weekwe're going to dive into the world of
auto and humble beginnings I must saywith one bay back and what the late
two thousands and of course over adecade later has grown it into a multimillion
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dollar business. Please welcome to thispodcast, Luke Walker. Good to have
you. Luke. Thanks, goodto meet ya. So good to meet
you too. I've heard about yourstory. It's very impressive. We're going
to get into this un your automotiveprogram for at risk students in just a
little bit because I was really impressedwith that. I love your story.
Sorry about faith, I want totalk about that too. But in this
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world of automotive, how competitive isit? I would say it's it's pretty
competitive, but I'm sure we'll endup getting into it. There have not
been a lot of young people goinginto the trades for many decades now,
and so in another sense, it'sthere's there's not a ton of people that
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have been going into the trades.So why do you think that is?
And we we've had others on theshow that have talked about that, the
skilled trades, and how there's sucha huge demanding you could make really good
money, by the way, ata job like that. But well,
what do you think it is?Because I know, back in the nineties,
for me, my old man wastelling me, hey, you know,
you don't want to get dirty,you don't want to sweep shop floors.
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You know, you can go tocollege and you know, become an
engineer. Well then all of asudden, there's a period of time where
I'm starting to see engineers, forexample, I thought were immune to any
type of layoff laid off, andI thought, well, wait a minute,
why why would my dad say thatto me? Because I actually I
like this stuff. I like gettingdirty, this is good stuff. It's
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not just that, but life lessonstoo. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I think you've I think you've seenover probably thirty years, society just started
looking down on the trades, anduh, you're right, you can outsource
a lot of white collar jobs.You cannot outsource most of the blue collar
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jobs. No, absolutely not.And that's interesting too, because you know,
you're starting to see a trend aroundthe country where it's the white collar
jobs that are the ones that arebeing let go right now, and the
skilled trades are obviously into band.I want to talk about your your backstory
a little bit. Were you alwaysinterested in taking apart engines and what when
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did the light bulb go off.The first taste for me was my grandpa,
who taught at a vocational school andthen also owned properties and had different
businesses. He he took a partof lawnmower engine with me when I was
in fourth grade. Yeah, andI used it as a science fair project,
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and I just I just remember likebeing super excited and obsessed with oh
my gosh, like this is awesome, but it's also not that complicated,
like I can understand what's going onhere, and so that that was kind
of the first taste, but itdidn't really it didn't really come back up
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until I had I had gotten abouthalfway through high school and realized I could
not handle sitting in a classroom anylonger. And so I told my guidance
counselor I have to get out ofregular classes, and I ended up checking
out a bunch of different career centers. Just happened to pick automotive. It
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was actually, oddly enough, itwas HVAC, automotive and acting. Yeah.
Yeah, I thought maybe I'd havebetter luck making a paycheck doing automotive.
So Luke Walker is with us.See, of course, is the
owner and manager of Luke's Auto Service, which has just grown exponentially over you
know, the past decade plus intoa multimillion dollar business. It's a great
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story too. Where did you growup? Luke, by the way,
grew up in Clintonville? Clintonville?Okay, I've lived in Clintonville my whole
life. You're a whole live nevernever left, never wanted to leave,
No found something good. Yeah,just stuck with it. That's awesome.
So after after high school, tellus, tell us where what you decided
to do next? Then? Well, so I kind of like telling a
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little bit more sure in high school. Yeah, because that that has motivated
me to do a lot of thetrade training that I've ended up doing so.
I had a real hard time inhigh school, struggled with major depression.
My uncle's a full blown schizophrenic,and I was even having some psychotic
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issues hearing voices and things. Thingswere. It was a very dark time
of my life. Ended up decidingI didn't want to live anymore and had
a suicide attempt my junior year inhigh school, and I should have died
that night. I had taken likethree months worth of pills and an entire
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bottle of brandy. I had writtenmy parents and apologizing to them, and
then went under a bridge with morealcohol in my backpack, walked a mile
away from my house under a bridgesonone would be able to find me and
save me, and ended up wakingup in the hospital. I had after
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blacking out. I had walked amile back to my parents' house and opened
the door, told my my dadto call poison control, and collapse on
the doorstep. I don't remember anyof it, but even after they had
pumped my stomach multiple times, thedoctor was still saying he wasn't sure if
I was going to make it.So that was that was a wake up
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call for me. That my myway of life wasn't working and so for
me, for me, it waslike turning to God at that point in
my life was was probably the biggestthing that that started to turn my life
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around. And realizing his love forme rather than I had kind of viewed
it as this performance thing where Ineed to you know, live a good
life to get to him, whereashe wanted to accept me how I was.
But so between that and then goingto a career center ended up being
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kind of a turning point in mylife where now all of a sudden,
you know, I think young menneed to have a vision for their lives
and what they can end up doingto make a living, and a lot
of them are not meant to besitting at a desk all day for a
job. There are so many youngmen and women that need to be working
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with their hands. And so whenI had found that path for me,
you know, it took off,and you know, I never would have
dreamed. You know, I've gotlike fifty employees now, and yeah,
we're like one of the biggest singlelocations for an independent shop in the country,
and it's just like that's incredible.Yeah, but I never i'd never
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planned any of it. It wasjust I found a good path for me.
Yeah. Did you have much offaith before you trying to end your
life? Did you? Did youhave any type of faith at all?
Yeah? Yeah I did, AndI was I was angry at God.
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I I was angry at him forthe depression. Like it's a depression is
so weird. I actually started gettingit this time of year every year.
Yea, even to do you youyou still suffer from it. Yeah,
and you know it'll be like,h It'll feel like a parent just died
or something. But nothing in mylife has caused me to feel that way
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and just like such a bizarre thing. But you know, between that and
some of the psychotic issues, Iwas mad at God and uh and and
I think I think I was Iwas just young and arrogant and thought I
was better than other people in someways that I was probably a subconscious thing.
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But but like it was really cleargoing me at that point that no,
I'm I'm not better than anyone.And if I'm coming to God,
I need to come with humility,not not calling the shots, telling him
how he should have made me.Yeah, boy, what a what a
story. Luke Walker's with as theowner and manager of Luke's Auto Service,
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an incredibly successful company here in Columbus. Is it based in Clintonville too,
by the way, or where where'sit at? Yeah, north side of
Clinton It's technically Worthington. I okay, it's right on the corner of That
experience put you in a position to, along with your faith, be inspired
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to do something. And so youyou started looking into the career center.
Uh, you know, we knowabout your love for engines early on.
Where to next? What did youdo next? So I started working at
a shop that was by my myhouse in Clintonville, and I worked there
for five years. I ended upgoing to Columbus State for audament of technology
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and and then in two thousand andnine, I was twenty two. Twenty
two was a big year for mebecause I got engaged and married and quit
my steady job. Right after wegot engaged and and started a one bay
shop. There was an older gentlemanwho had a shop there, but yeah,
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it was it was. It wasone bay. You could you could
barely get a big truck into theentire bay. And yeah, it just
ended up picking up steam fairly quickly. Look how many people told you that
you were crazy for doing that.That's insane. I don't know if anyone
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did. Oh, okay, good, well good. So it sounds like
you got support in the very beginning. Yeah, yeah, I was.
Yeah, I'm I'm surprised by justhow how supportive and encouraging so many of
the people that are close with me. And your fiance too, your fiance
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at the time, Yeah, yeah, she was a little worried about it.
Well I understand, but she shestood by your side. That's that's
fantastic. So, so you launchedthis one bay auto service business. Uh,
first year earnings? What what wasit like that first year? They
always say the first year is thetoughest, right, Yeah, I think
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we I think we did a quartermillion the first year. Wow. And
I had already I think six monthsin I had hired someone and just kept
hiring people and yeah, there's alot of cars out there to fix turns
out. Yeah. So, Luke, did did you know oh much about
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being a boss, management, howto run a business when you started this?
That's what I find fascinating at sucha young age too. No,
I had none of that experience,and yeah, I probably wouldn't have even
had a high school degree if Ihadn't gone to the career center. School
was not my thing. But Iended up realizing that when it was I
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think it was twenty fourteen, wewere doing maybe eight hundred thousand a year,
and you know, so I hadover tripled what I did the first
year, and yet I wasn't makinga penny more than what I made like
a year or two end, andI was having, you know, triple
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the revenue, the same amount ofprofits, and ten times the amount of
headaches and issues coming up, andI didn't know how to deal with them.
Yeah, And so I realized aroundthat time that what it takes to
run and run any business is alot different skill set than it is to
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do the trade. And they talkabout that in a book, The e
Myth about how so many small businessesare just started by someone in that trade
or craft and then they just say, hey, I can I can do
a business doing this, and sothey go out and do it. But
it's it's a totally different skill setdoing your craft versus running a business.
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Yeah, so what is it?Is it true what they say, Luke,
that one of the first things youreally need to get a good foundation
with your business. You could haveall the greatest marketing ideas and know how
skill set, but you need agood accountant. Is that? Is that
true? What they say you needa good accountant that or just be a
cheapass. Yeah, that's how Idid. It started out. I mean,
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so you did the books and Iwas Yeah, I was very frugal.
I think, you know, Ithink the biggest thing is just emotional
intelligence. Knowing how to treat people. Well, I'd agree with going how
to converse with people because it's whetherwhether it's your customer or your employees,
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just being able to connect with people. Is it's it just seems like something
that I've noticed is vital in business. Well, Luke, especially in your
business. There's a whole trust factorthere because I'm I'm leaving my car with
you. I'm entrusting you to fixthe problem. Yeah, Okay, it's
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going to be expensive, but Iplease, you know, get it right.
Don't take me for a ride,because I'm sure you've heard the stories
plenty of people have been taking fora ride. I would have to say
that right away when I met you, that that's a that's a gift that
you have. Is is you canalready tell you're a good people person.
You can connect. Would you saythat's one of the secret sauces for your
business then? Is that that abilityto communicate understand what they're going through their
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emotions because you know, a brokendown car when they needed every day,
that's that's an emotional thing too.Yeah, yeah, I mean that the
auto repair business is I would Iwould say it's probably got one of the
worst reputations of a business, yea. And yeah, so we're definitely fighting
against that. And yeah, Ido. I do think you know,
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initially when I was the one workingwith all the customers, yeah, that
was very helpful. But even now, as you know, I'm I'm completely
removed from the day to day operationsnow. And do you miss that,
by the way, thinking thinking whenyou first started with that one bay,
Yeah, I was, you'd haveto because I know that's part of your
passion. Yeah it is. Iget my fix in other ways now,
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like, uh, you know,I was at a cabin with my family
and uh I was, I wasthrowing up ropes into the trees for rope
swings for my kids, and uhyou know, uh, there's renovations we're
doing. Yeah, and that sortof thing. So yeah, I I
I do not do well sitting ata desk all but I do have to
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You're you're You're just like me.They told me recently, Hey, we're
gonna get you an office boxer.What really, I know, I'm not
going to be in my office logenough be contained exactly. So Luke Walker's
with us this week's I guess onCEO. As you should know, he's
the owner of Luke's Auto Service inColumbus, uh in the north side of
town, just north of Clintonville.Very successful business, multimillion dollars. We'll
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get into revenue just to sec uhjust how successful you are now by from
the humble beginnings, Luke, ofthat one bay service center. You you
got married. Obviously you had afinance, but you got married, you
had children, and then the businessgrew to a point where you had to
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also grow where you're at two yeah, yeah, So yeah, we started
in you a one bay shop,and then I just slowly added it,
like building after building on the littleindustrial loop I was on. And so
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so you just added onto the richOh okay, so you never you never
moved at all, You just addedon, Yes, okay, that's great.
Well, I mean we did movewithin that surcle a couple of times.
We're not still in the one bayanymore. Okay, but yeah,
yeah, I called it my shantytown of utter a pair of shop buildings
actually, because none of them weredesigned for utter repair, so we were
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just trying to piece it together.And and just just this year we've we've
built a building for auto repair thatthe cars go all they all go all
the way up in the air.And uh, you know, so the
building now is meets your specifications exactly. Yes, that's hilarious. So how
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let's just talk about last year.So now, as far as you know,
revenue goes explosiveness, you would yousay, you have you have fifty
employees now something like that, somethinglike that. Fifty employees. Uh,
what's business like as far as revenue, what's take us into that world of
automo repair. Yeah, we've we'vejust kept adding bays. So yeah,
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it's been we went from one towe just this week we're finishing up the
final touches on the new building bybase building has twenty bays. Oh wow,
but then we're retaining a couple ofour smaller buildings, so it'll it'll
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will have thirty two lifts total atthat location. No, no, no,
it's okay. But but revenue wise, just you know profitability. Is
the auto repair industry quite profitable?I mean, I know there's there's hard
costs, the parts you have,the supply chain issues. What is that
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like? Now? What if someonelistening to this obviously is wanting to go
into it, especially well for youraverage shop owner in the United States,
it is bad. Okay, itis not not good. And I think
that's that's because of the what I'vereferenced about the totally different skill set it
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is to run a business. Andso I ended up getting a lot of
business training through assaulting and business coachingcompanies, and and that made a huge
difference to me, just understanding howbusiness works, Understanding what what you want
to put money into, what isn'tworth putting money into, Understanding my my
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business model, because starting out itwas it was I as a twenty two
year old who didn't have any money. I wanted to offer like the cheapest
price possible, and I thought that'swhat was going to be serving customers.
Turns out there's there's more to that, and you know, reliability is important
when with people's vehicles and uh,you know, so trying to trying to
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get great people that I fully trust, that I know are amazing at what
they do and u and offer avery I don't know, it's amazing how
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few talented technicians there are out there. Like That's that's one of the few
things that I've retained on my plateis technician recruiting because it's so hard to
find them. So you're pretty activeout there trying to recruit. Wow,
yep, And so yeah, Imean that's why is that? Because is
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does it go back to the skilledtrades because they make good money from everything
I read? Yes, yeah,you can make a great living doing it
if it's something you're good at.Ye. But yeah, that is like
what what we're talking about with thetrades. I mean, it's just it's
it's it's like a not even aplan B or C. It's like,
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you know, Plan X. Ifif you're just really too dumb to do
to go get a four year degreeand go, you know, eighty kN
to debt, then you could notgo into debt and see if maybe this
is something you're good at. Andokay, yeah, I guess you could
try that if if you really can'tmake it, you know, I will
say, I really dislike how societybelittles positions like that, because we need
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you, we need you to fixour cars. And I hear this from
the HVAC industries. Same they getthe same type of treatment any type of
service industry, and it quite franklybothers me. But that's in in other
countries. You don't see this asmuch. In Germany and Japan, the
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top two automakers also known for,you know, creating great products, they
don't view it the same and likeit. In Germany, they actually have
two words for knowledge, whereas weonly have one word for knowledge. They
have visionscoff which is head knowledge,and Kentoness, which is experiential knowledge.
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So right down to the vocabulary,they have a deeper understanding of experiential,
hands on type of knowledge that wedon't even have a vocabulary here. And
look at those two countries. Howincredibly innovative they've been with even engineering Germany
and Japan. Yes, wow,yep, thanks for I didn't know that
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about those two words. Thank you. Yeah, it's and I'm German,
I have German. I just it'ssomething I'm passionate about it because for me,
it kind of saved my life ina way, and it gave me
a vision. And I grew upwith a bunch of privileges that so many
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young people in our city, somany people across the United States, don't
have. And so if I'm barelymaking it through high school alive, then
then you know, how are kidsgrowing up in the inner city that don't
have any good role models going tomake it? And so I don't know.
So something I've done a lot ofreading about, and I'm excited about
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it. Yeah, Luke Luke Walker'swith us, our latest guest at CEOs.
You should know. He's the ownerof Luke's Auto Service. You've taken
some of that passion of yours andyou're giving it back into an automotive program
that you've had for quite a while. Now. Tell us about that.
Yeah. So, so it wasaround maybe twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen,
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I like the business was starting tostabilize and I was getting great people in
there. I've got an amazing crewof employees there now who they're running it.
And so I just got this sensethat God had something else for me
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that he wasn't wanting me to bein business to just line my pockets,
but that he wanted me to giveback somehow, and so you felt you
felt this, Yeah, okay,yeah, And I mean it was like
I'm I'm not I don't like praya ton, but like it was something
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I I started praying about regularly,like i'd I know you, I know
you haven't given me all of thisjust for me, Like you want me
to give back somehow and show me, show me what you want me to
be doing. And so it waslike three months into this this regularly praying
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about this, that there's an organizationcalled Youth for Christ and it's a national
organization and they had an automotive programfor like twenty years, but the guy
running it had tire and the programhad been dead in the water for like
(26:03):
six months. And so I hearabout that that they've been looking for someone
for six months right as I'm prayingabout this. And it's funny because yeah,
I mean, like I I didn'thave a vision for my life getting
into the trade, and I didn'thave a vision for my life either of
(26:26):
how how God wanted to use meto help other people and and boom,
he put it there in front ofme, like, and so, I
like working with my hands, Ilike starting new things. I also like
kids, even it was even whenI was like a depressed teenager. I've
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just always liked kids. And Ilove having, you know, doing things
with my kids now. But well, and I and I so yeah,
so I so I heard about thatprogram and I ended up getting involved.
And it was just the guy whowho'd really the one guy who had been
(27:08):
involved with it mainly. And Istarted like recruiting volunteers, like, hey,
let's try to help some young peoplefigure out if they're good with their
hands or not. And so rightfrom the beginning I had some like like
in the career center in high schooland in the automotive technology program at Columbus
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State. There's a lot of studentsthere who it wasn't their thing. And
like I've even hired guys from ColumbusState who, like, a couple of
months into working, I'm like,hey, I am so sorry, but
this is not your thing. AndI'm sorry you spent two years, you
know, two time, Luke.Do they think it's their thing or did
they don't know? They don't know? And and so I've designed the front
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end of our program is just tofigure that question out because it seems like
an important thing before they get toofar down the path. And so a
good filter system. So yeah,So, like the first class is just
a it's just six hours total oversix weeks, an hour a week,
and and we have a lawnmower enginethat we disassemble and reassemble teach them how
(28:18):
it works, and then four otherstations as well. And then so we'll
teach them that and then we'll we'llpull out a stop watch and time them
and see how fast they can disassembleand reassemble the end. Wow. And
so it's really hands on interactive.By the way, is there a record
for that? What's the do youhave a record time? I think I
(28:40):
think someone did it in like threeor four minutes? Oh wow, Yeah
yeah, and that I mean it'sreally fun. We have, you know,
there's that competitive aspect and we havewe have tool prizes for the students
that place in the in the topof that class each class. So and
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so we've had like four hundred studentscome through this now and and we do
this aptitude testing and we just invitethe students that have tested well to go
on in the program. And sothat's one of the parts of it that
I'm really excited about because I sawhow the aspects of it that didn't work
when when I did the programs inhigh school. And then sure, Luke,
(29:25):
you know, they're called at riskstudents, but they also have they
have hearts, they have feelings,they are human beings. You know,
we heard that word. Where whatare these kids coming from? Why are
they called at risk? Well,so it's not just as at risk students.
We will take any students. Okay, We're focusing on high school students
(29:48):
right now, although I'm hoping toopen up an additional program that's eighteen through
twenty five as well. A lotof sophomores in high school aren't ready to
get in their career yet. Themotivation isn't quite there yet. But but
but we have tried to focus ongetting out there to some of the rougher
(30:12):
sides of the town. We've gottenso and like how we've done that.
So we'll take our stations into highschools and put on our station out of
high school so like any student whowants to come try it can can come
do it and figure out if it'ssomething they're good or not, if it's
something they like or not see.And by the way, I haven't been
(30:33):
to a high school in a while, but I know that through the years.
I mean, shot class is oneof my favorite classes, you know,
growing up, especially in high school. But then years later I would
hear that that a lot of theseschool districts would would phase them out.
Is that true? Yeah? Yeah, I mean so I don't think,
(30:55):
well, at least at Columbus Public. When I went to wet Stone,
I think I think it was thelast year that they had would shop yeah,
would school. Yeah, And theydon't have it there anymore. That's
a shame of taken it all out. They've put it out a career center,
Okay. And that's the other thingthat drives me crazy about it is
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it's so you get a twenty minutevisit of a program your sophomore year to
decide whether you want to spend twoyears in that program. A twenty minute
visit. Yeah, So that's that'sthe exposure that that you get to make
this massive decision, and it's it'slike, oh my gosh, like we
(31:40):
got to do better. And soI don't know, that's what that's what
motivated to get into is let's justlet some students try it out, see
if it's something they like. Ifit's not, hey, they know it's
they know that they're not going topursue that. So I love what you're
doing, Luke because it's it soundslike are you going to different school districts
then with like a mobile shop ifyou will, And yeah, that's bringing
(32:05):
the stations there. We do havetwo facilities where we have lifts and everything.
So one of them's off of Westbroad Street and then the other one
is off a seventy one and uhNorth Broadway, and that one's my church
is letting me use this twelve thousandsquare foot warehouse space there for free.
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We've got six lifts in there,two classrooms. It's like, wow,
it's it's really cool spot. Butso so we'll bring students in to both
of our facilities as well. Andthen at the north side location has intermediate
and more advanced classes that we're developing. Yeah. So what's the future of
(32:52):
Luke's Auto Service. I mean,you keep growing and growing? Is that
the plan? Is it maybe franchisingdown the road? What what's in your
head? What are you thinking.I have such great people that I've kind
of foreseen for a while that Iwas going to have to add locations to
be able to give my great employeesopportunities to step up. And so we've
(33:16):
we just started this month a newlocation right down here off a Dublin Road
and Grandview Avenue. Wow, Congress, that's so real excited about that.
And and I'm looking at other placestoo. Oh that's great, So is
your vision. So you're thinking maybeget into the other suburbs, branch out,
(33:37):
maybe inside and outside two seventy.I think it's very likely will continue
to open locations as as they presentthemselves and as we find them, and
as I mean, as long asI've got great people working for me,
I want to keep giving them opportunitiesand letting them move up. How do
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you, Luke, how do youbalance being the owner of this big and
successful auto service shop and your familywith your kids and your wife? How
do you do all that? What'sup? Is their dad time? Is
their husband time? On the weekends? What what do you do? How
do you do that? Well?First stuff, you get great people that
(34:22):
can run it for you. Andyeah, so I've I've done that,
and yeah, I like I mywife and I have a date to night.
I on kind of a date day. I leave work at three o'clock
and well we go, I haveall we spend time together and I try
to get dates with my kids oncea week. And yeah, we get
(34:46):
we're not open on weekends. Iwas gonna ask that's one thing that customers
don't like as much, but myemployees who have families love And you know,
that's been one of the things I'vebeen able to recruit people from other
shops, is like, I wantmy guys to be home with their families.
Yeah. So yeah, And itlooks somebody was going to bring up
(35:07):
too with your with your shop andthe auto service industry is things have changed
dramatically. I mean, the daysof trying to work on a car in
my garage myself are pretty much over. I can still put you know,
a little bit of oil in windshield, washer fluid, but a lot of
other stuff I can't do. SoI would imagine there's a lot of optics
(35:30):
to training your employees, to gettingthem up to beat up to speed on
everything. It's it's insane how thathow advanced cars are getting. And you
know, it just keeps advancing fasterand faster every year. So, well,
is there a model is that youwon't do? Is there any type
of brand you you won't work on? I've always wondered that because you're if
(35:53):
you think about it, you're nota You're not a Ford or a Chevy
dealership. You're you're independent. Butyou'll work on a lot of different brands.
Is there one you won't touch?That's well, So that's one advantage
of having a massive shop with thirtytwo bays. I mean I've I've been
able to get guys from different dealerships, different different specialties and and you know,
(36:19):
get this awesome group of technicians together. Who I mean, we can
we can do it all. That'sincredible. There's nothing we won't touch as
far as mechanical repair goes. Wow, we're not We're not. We don't
do any body work. But right, is there I don't know if you
can answer this or not, butjust out of curiosity with technology, with
some cars being maybe more difficult thanothers, is is there a maker model
(36:44):
that tends to be more difficult thanothers to work on? Just just challenging,
Well, you're asking the wrong personbecause I know I get it.
I'm just slinging ropes over trees forswings for my what are your guys?
Are your employees telling you? Imean it depends for different guys. I
(37:08):
mean, I mean there's kind ofa European cars can tend to be more
difficult, but if you get guysthat are familiar with them, then yeah,
it's it's all. It's all thesame. No, I wouldn't.
I wouldn't say there's anything that's you'lltake it all on. Well, I
(37:28):
mean we have not done very manylike Ferraris or Lamborghinis, but yeah,
well we can fix it all.Look, before we wrap up, I
want to wrap up with something westarted with, and that's, uh,
your incredible story about your battle depression. And that doesn't always, that doesn't
(37:51):
go away, It stays with you. You gotta figure out how to manage
it. How do you manage yours? Well? Medication has helped. Sure,
Uh, I think there's there's lifestylechanges that make a difference. But
(38:20):
ultimately, for me, I mean, it was what's what's the point of
life? And I don't know,I'm I'm more of a melancholy temperament,
and yeah, for me, forme, the source of depression was what
what is the point sure if ifultimately you know we're we're all going to
(38:45):
die and the universe will die ofheat death, and you know there'll be
no memory of anything, then thatthat was your thinking, yeah, and
your rough times yeah yeah. Andand so for me coming to understand that
(39:06):
there is a God who's personal andhe loves me, and he's not looking
for me to work my way andlive a good life to be able to
earn his approval. He he wantsto give that to me freely through the
Cross, and he just wants meto accept that and that that ah that
(39:31):
he wants to use me and otherpeople's lives, and he wants me to
He wants to use me to tomake a difference, even if it's even
if it's just one person's life.If I can just help one person,
I mean to me, it's like, that's that's the kind of thing that's
(39:51):
going to last and matter. Andso I I think I might, I
think I might always struggle with depression. But it's it's asking myself, am
I am I going to let thisrule my life? Or am I gonna
(40:14):
step out in faith and trust thatGod's going to take care of me and
that I I don't need to turninward. I can try to still try
to give out and and love thepeople in my life. Yeah, well
look you Yea. For what it'sworth, you have a lot to be
proud of. I mean, you'rea shining example and someone who it sounds
(40:37):
like, gives back every single day, you know, paying it forward.
So real honor to meet you.For those that want more info about Luke's
Auto service website, social media,where can they go, Yeah, Luke
Luke's Auto dot com or yeah,we're on Facebook and then the trade center.
(41:00):
So it's it's called equip Skills CenterOkay, and I think it's just
equip Skills Center dot com. Okay. And oh that's good. I'm glad
you brought that up. Yeah.Yeah, but we're really trying to get
the word out more and more onthat and we want as many students to
have an opportunity that's possible to checkthat out. Yeah. By the way,
Luke, before we go, Iwas looking at your website. I
(41:22):
love I love the coupon for thefree second opinion. I think I think
that's genius. That's a really goodone because in this day and age,
usually the you know someone's going tocharge you even to look at it,
So yeah, you can get it, really need the entire engine. Come
on by, we'll let you knowif it's just that gasket. Luke Walker,
(41:43):
who's with us and our latest gueston CEOs you Should Know Luke's Auto
Service. Thanks for being a guestthis week, Luke, Thanks so much
for having me. CEOs You ShouldKnow is hosted and produced by Brandon Boxer,
a production of iHeartMedia, Columbus
Columbus and Central Ohio have a richhistory of companies being headquartered here, everything
from technology, manufacturing, retail,insurance, and more. But what about
the leaders behind these companies? Whatmakes them tick? How did they get
their start? This is where youget to meet the captain of the ship.
Welcome does CEOs You Should Know andiHeart Media Columbus Podcast. Welcome back
(00:20):
to another episode of CEOs You ShouldKnow and I Heart Media Columbus Podcast.
I'm your host boxer. This weekwe're going to dive into the world of
auto and humble beginnings I must saywith one bay back and what the late
two thousands and of course over adecade later has grown it into a multimillion
(00:40):
dollar business. Please welcome to thispodcast, Luke Walker. Good to have
you. Luke. Thanks, goodto meet ya. So good to meet
you too. I've heard about yourstory. It's very impressive. We're going
to get into this un your automotiveprogram for at risk students in just a
little bit because I was really impressedwith that. I love your story.
Sorry about faith, I want totalk about that too. But in this
(01:03):
world of automotive, how competitive isit? I would say it's it's pretty
competitive, but I'm sure we'll endup getting into it. There have not
been a lot of young people goinginto the trades for many decades now,
and so in another sense, it'sthere's there's not a ton of people that
(01:26):
have been going into the trades.So why do you think that is?
And we we've had others on theshow that have talked about that, the
skilled trades, and how there's sucha huge demanding you could make really good
money, by the way, ata job like that. But well,
what do you think it is?Because I know, back in the nineties,
for me, my old man wastelling me, hey, you know,
you don't want to get dirty,you don't want to sweep shop floors.
(01:48):
You know, you can go tocollege and you know, become an
engineer. Well then all of asudden, there's a period of time where
I'm starting to see engineers, forexample, I thought were immune to any
type of layoff laid off, andI thought, well, wait a minute,
why why would my dad say thatto me? Because I actually I
like this stuff. I like gettingdirty, this is good stuff. It's
(02:09):
not just that, but life lessonstoo. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
I think you've I think you've seenover probably thirty years, society just started
looking down on the trades, anduh, you're right, you can outsource
a lot of white collar jobs.You cannot outsource most of the blue collar
(02:31):
jobs. No, absolutely not.And that's interesting too, because you know,
you're starting to see a trend aroundthe country where it's the white collar
jobs that are the ones that arebeing let go right now, and the
skilled trades are obviously into band.I want to talk about your your backstory
a little bit. Were you alwaysinterested in taking apart engines and what when
(02:55):
did the light bulb go off.The first taste for me was my grandpa,
who taught at a vocational school andthen also owned properties and had different
businesses. He he took a partof lawnmower engine with me when I was
in fourth grade. Yeah, andI used it as a science fair project,
(03:17):
and I just I just remember likebeing super excited and obsessed with oh
my gosh, like this is awesome, but it's also not that complicated,
like I can understand what's going onhere, and so that that was kind
of the first taste, but itdidn't really it didn't really come back up
(03:40):
until I had I had gotten abouthalfway through high school and realized I could
not handle sitting in a classroom anylonger. And so I told my guidance
counselor I have to get out ofregular classes, and I ended up checking
out a bunch of different career centers. Just happened to pick automotive. It
(04:03):
was actually, oddly enough, itwas HVAC, automotive and acting. Yeah.
Yeah, I thought maybe I'd havebetter luck making a paycheck doing automotive.
So Luke Walker is with us.See, of course, is the
owner and manager of Luke's Auto Service, which has just grown exponentially over you
know, the past decade plus intoa multimillion dollar business. It's a great
(04:27):
story too. Where did you growup? Luke, by the way,
grew up in Clintonville? Clintonville?Okay, I've lived in Clintonville my whole
life. You're a whole live nevernever left, never wanted to leave,
No found something good. Yeah,just stuck with it. That's awesome.
So after after high school, tellus, tell us where what you decided
to do next? Then? Well, so I kind of like telling a
(04:48):
little bit more sure in high school. Yeah, because that that has motivated
me to do a lot of thetrade training that I've ended up doing so.
I had a real hard time inhigh school, struggled with major depression.
My uncle's a full blown schizophrenic,and I was even having some psychotic
(05:12):
issues hearing voices and things. Thingswere. It was a very dark time
of my life. Ended up decidingI didn't want to live anymore and had
a suicide attempt my junior year inhigh school, and I should have died
that night. I had taken likethree months worth of pills and an entire
(05:35):
bottle of brandy. I had writtenmy parents and apologizing to them, and
then went under a bridge with morealcohol in my backpack, walked a mile
away from my house under a bridgesonone would be able to find me and
save me, and ended up wakingup in the hospital. I had after
(05:57):
blacking out. I had walked amile back to my parents' house and opened
the door, told my my dadto call poison control, and collapse on
the doorstep. I don't remember anyof it, but even after they had
pumped my stomach multiple times, thedoctor was still saying he wasn't sure if
I was going to make it.So that was that was a wake up
(06:18):
call for me. That my myway of life wasn't working and so for
me, for me, it waslike turning to God at that point in
my life was was probably the biggestthing that that started to turn my life
(06:38):
around. And realizing his love forme rather than I had kind of viewed
it as this performance thing where Ineed to you know, live a good
life to get to him, whereashe wanted to accept me how I was.
But so between that and then goingto a career center ended up being
(07:03):
kind of a turning point in mylife where now all of a sudden,
you know, I think young menneed to have a vision for their lives
and what they can end up doingto make a living, and a lot
of them are not meant to besitting at a desk all day for a
job. There are so many youngmen and women that need to be working
(07:27):
with their hands. And so whenI had found that path for me,
you know, it took off,and you know, I never would have
dreamed. You know, I've gotlike fifty employees now, and yeah,
we're like one of the biggest singlelocations for an independent shop in the country,
and it's just like that's incredible.Yeah, but I never i'd never
(07:51):
planned any of it. It wasjust I found a good path for me.
Yeah. Did you have much offaith before you trying to end your
life? Did you? Did youhave any type of faith at all?
Yeah? Yeah I did, AndI was I was angry at God.
(08:15):
I I was angry at him forthe depression. Like it's a depression is
so weird. I actually started gettingit this time of year every year.
Yea, even to do you youyou still suffer from it. Yeah,
and you know it'll be like,h It'll feel like a parent just died
or something. But nothing in mylife has caused me to feel that way
(08:39):
and just like such a bizarre thing. But you know, between that and
some of the psychotic issues, Iwas mad at God and uh and and
I think I think I was Iwas just young and arrogant and thought I
was better than other people in someways that I was probably a subconscious thing.
(09:01):
But but like it was really cleargoing me at that point that no,
I'm I'm not better than anyone.And if I'm coming to God,
I need to come with humility,not not calling the shots, telling him
how he should have made me.Yeah, boy, what a what a
story. Luke Walker's with as theowner and manager of Luke's Auto Service,
(09:22):
an incredibly successful company here in Columbus. Is it based in Clintonville too,
by the way, or where where'sit at? Yeah, north side of
Clinton It's technically Worthington. I okay, it's right on the corner of That
experience put you in a position to, along with your faith, be inspired
(09:43):
to do something. And so youyou started looking into the career center.
Uh, you know, we knowabout your love for engines early on.
Where to next? What did youdo next? So I started working at
a shop that was by my myhouse in Clintonville, and I worked there
for five years. I ended upgoing to Columbus State for audament of technology
(10:09):
and and then in two thousand andnine, I was twenty two. Twenty
two was a big year for mebecause I got engaged and married and quit
my steady job. Right after wegot engaged and and started a one bay
shop. There was an older gentlemanwho had a shop there, but yeah,
(10:33):
it was it was. It wasone bay. You could you could
barely get a big truck into theentire bay. And yeah, it just
ended up picking up steam fairly quickly. Look how many people told you that
you were crazy for doing that.That's insane. I don't know if anyone
(10:56):
did. Oh, okay, good, well good. So it sounds like
you got support in the very beginning. Yeah, yeah, I was.
Yeah, I'm I'm surprised by justhow how supportive and encouraging so many of
the people that are close with me. And your fiance too, your fiance
(11:18):
at the time, Yeah, yeah, she was a little worried about it.
Well I understand, but she shestood by your side. That's that's
fantastic. So, so you launchedthis one bay auto service business. Uh,
first year earnings? What what wasit like that first year? They
always say the first year is thetoughest, right, Yeah, I think
(11:39):
we I think we did a quartermillion the first year. Wow. And
I had already I think six monthsin I had hired someone and just kept
hiring people and yeah, there's alot of cars out there to fix turns
out. Yeah. So, Luke, did did you know oh much about
(12:01):
being a boss, management, howto run a business when you started this?
That's what I find fascinating at sucha young age too. No,
I had none of that experience,and yeah, I probably wouldn't have even
had a high school degree if Ihadn't gone to the career center. School
was not my thing. But Iended up realizing that when it was I
(12:28):
think it was twenty fourteen, wewere doing maybe eight hundred thousand a year,
and you know, so I hadover tripled what I did the first
year, and yet I wasn't makinga penny more than what I made like
a year or two end, andI was having, you know, triple
(12:54):
the revenue, the same amount ofprofits, and ten times the amount of
headaches and issues coming up, andI didn't know how to deal with them.
Yeah, And so I realized aroundthat time that what it takes to
run and run any business is alot different skill set than it is to
(13:16):
do the trade. And they talkabout that in a book, The e
Myth about how so many small businessesare just started by someone in that trade
or craft and then they just say, hey, I can I can do
a business doing this, and sothey go out and do it. But
it's it's a totally different skill setdoing your craft versus running a business.
(13:39):
Yeah, so what is it?Is it true what they say, Luke,
that one of the first things youreally need to get a good foundation
with your business. You could haveall the greatest marketing ideas and know how
skill set, but you need agood accountant. Is that? Is that
true? What they say you needa good accountant that or just be a
cheapass. Yeah, that's how Idid. It started out. I mean,
(14:03):
so you did the books and Iwas Yeah, I was very frugal.
I think, you know, Ithink the biggest thing is just emotional
intelligence. Knowing how to treat people. Well, I'd agree with going how
to converse with people because it's whetherwhether it's your customer or your employees,
(14:28):
just being able to connect with people. Is it's it just seems like something
that I've noticed is vital in business. Well, Luke, especially in your
business. There's a whole trust factorthere because I'm I'm leaving my car with
you. I'm entrusting you to fixthe problem. Yeah, Okay, it's
(14:50):
going to be expensive, but Iplease, you know, get it right.
Don't take me for a ride,because I'm sure you've heard the stories
plenty of people have been taking fora ride. I would have to say
that right away when I met you, that that's a that's a gift that
you have. Is is you canalready tell you're a good people person.
You can connect. Would you saythat's one of the secret sauces for your
business then? Is that that abilityto communicate understand what they're going through their
(15:16):
emotions because you know, a brokendown car when they needed every day,
that's that's an emotional thing too.Yeah, yeah, I mean that the
auto repair business is I would Iwould say it's probably got one of the
worst reputations of a business, yea. And yeah, so we're definitely fighting
against that. And yeah, Ido. I do think you know,
(15:41):
initially when I was the one workingwith all the customers, yeah, that
was very helpful. But even now, as you know, I'm I'm completely
removed from the day to day operationsnow. And do you miss that,
by the way, thinking thinking whenyou first started with that one bay,
Yeah, I was, you'd haveto because I know that's part of your
passion. Yeah it is. Iget my fix in other ways now,
(16:07):
like, uh, you know,I was at a cabin with my family
and uh I was, I wasthrowing up ropes into the trees for rope
swings for my kids, and uhyou know, uh, there's renovations we're
doing. Yeah, and that sortof thing. So yeah, I I
I do not do well sitting ata desk all but I do have to
(16:30):
You're you're You're just like me.They told me recently, Hey, we're
gonna get you an office boxer.What really, I know, I'm not
going to be in my office logenough be contained exactly. So Luke Walker's
with us this week's I guess onCEO. As you should know, he's
the owner of Luke's Auto Service inColumbus, uh in the north side of
town, just north of Clintonville.Very successful business, multimillion dollars. We'll
(16:55):
get into revenue just to sec uhjust how successful you are now by from
the humble beginnings, Luke, ofthat one bay service center. You you
got married. Obviously you had afinance, but you got married, you
had children, and then the businessgrew to a point where you had to
(17:15):
also grow where you're at two yeah, yeah, So yeah, we started
in you a one bay shop,and then I just slowly added it,
like building after building on the littleindustrial loop I was on. And so
(17:36):
so you just added onto the richOh okay, so you never you never
moved at all, You just addedon, Yes, okay, that's great.
Well, I mean we did movewithin that surcle a couple of times.
We're not still in the one bayanymore. Okay, but yeah,
yeah, I called it my shantytown of utter a pair of shop buildings
actually, because none of them weredesigned for utter repair, so we were
(17:59):
just trying to piece it together.And and just just this year we've we've
built a building for auto repair thatthe cars go all they all go all
the way up in the air.And uh, you know, so the
building now is meets your specifications exactly. Yes, that's hilarious. So how
(18:22):
let's just talk about last year.So now, as far as you know,
revenue goes explosiveness, you would yousay, you have you have fifty
employees now something like that, somethinglike that. Fifty employees. Uh,
what's business like as far as revenue, what's take us into that world of
automo repair. Yeah, we've we'vejust kept adding bays. So yeah,
(18:45):
it's been we went from one towe just this week we're finishing up the
final touches on the new building bybase building has twenty bays. Oh wow,
but then we're retaining a couple ofour smaller buildings, so it'll it'll
(19:07):
will have thirty two lifts total atthat location. No, no, no,
it's okay. But but revenue wise, just you know profitability. Is
the auto repair industry quite profitable?I mean, I know there's there's hard
costs, the parts you have,the supply chain issues. What is that
(19:32):
like? Now? What if someonelistening to this obviously is wanting to go
into it, especially well for youraverage shop owner in the United States,
it is bad. Okay, itis not not good. And I think
that's that's because of the what I'vereferenced about the totally different skill set it
(19:52):
is to run a business. Andso I ended up getting a lot of
business training through assaulting and business coachingcompanies, and and that made a huge
difference to me, just understanding howbusiness works, Understanding what what you want
to put money into, what isn'tworth putting money into, Understanding my my
(20:21):
business model, because starting out itwas it was I as a twenty two
year old who didn't have any money. I wanted to offer like the cheapest
price possible, and I thought that'swhat was going to be serving customers.
Turns out there's there's more to that, and you know, reliability is important
when with people's vehicles and uh,you know, so trying to trying to
(20:45):
get great people that I fully trust, that I know are amazing at what
they do and u and offer avery I don't know, it's amazing how
(21:06):
few talented technicians there are out there. Like That's that's one of the few
things that I've retained on my plateis technician recruiting because it's so hard to
find them. So you're pretty activeout there trying to recruit. Wow,
yep, And so yeah, Imean that's why is that? Because is
(21:26):
does it go back to the skilledtrades because they make good money from everything
I read? Yes, yeah,you can make a great living doing it
if it's something you're good at.Ye. But yeah, that is like
what what we're talking about with thetrades. I mean, it's just it's
it's it's like a not even aplan B or C. It's like,
(21:48):
you know, Plan X. Ifif you're just really too dumb to do
to go get a four year degreeand go, you know, eighty kN
to debt, then you could notgo into debt and see if maybe this
is something you're good at. Andokay, yeah, I guess you could
try that if if you really can'tmake it, you know, I will
say, I really dislike how societybelittles positions like that, because we need
(22:15):
you, we need you to fixour cars. And I hear this from
the HVAC industries. Same they getthe same type of treatment any type of
service industry, and it quite franklybothers me. But that's in in other
countries. You don't see this asmuch. In Germany and Japan, the
(22:40):
top two automakers also known for,you know, creating great products, they
don't view it the same and likeit. In Germany, they actually have
two words for knowledge, whereas weonly have one word for knowledge. They
have visionscoff which is head knowledge,and Kentoness, which is experiential knowledge.
(23:03):
So right down to the vocabulary,they have a deeper understanding of experiential,
hands on type of knowledge that wedon't even have a vocabulary here. And
look at those two countries. Howincredibly innovative they've been with even engineering Germany
and Japan. Yes, wow,yep, thanks for I didn't know that
(23:26):
about those two words. Thank you. Yeah, it's and I'm German,
I have German. I just it'ssomething I'm passionate about it because for me,
it kind of saved my life ina way, and it gave me
a vision. And I grew upwith a bunch of privileges that so many
(23:48):
young people in our city, somany people across the United States, don't
have. And so if I'm barelymaking it through high school alive, then
then you know, how are kidsgrowing up in the inner city that don't
have any good role models going tomake it? And so I don't know.
So something I've done a lot ofreading about, and I'm excited about
(24:11):
it. Yeah, Luke Luke Walker'swith us, our latest guest at CEOs.
You should know. He's the ownerof Luke's Auto Service. You've taken
some of that passion of yours andyou're giving it back into an automotive program
that you've had for quite a while. Now. Tell us about that.
Yeah. So, so it wasaround maybe twenty sixteen, twenty seventeen,
(24:37):
I like the business was starting tostabilize and I was getting great people in
there. I've got an amazing crewof employees there now who they're running it.
And so I just got this sensethat God had something else for me
(24:59):
that he wasn't wanting me to bein business to just line my pockets,
but that he wanted me to giveback somehow, and so you felt you
felt this, Yeah, okay,yeah, And I mean it was like
I'm I'm not I don't like praya ton, but like it was something
(25:19):
I I started praying about regularly,like i'd I know you, I know
you haven't given me all of thisjust for me, Like you want me
to give back somehow and show me, show me what you want me to
be doing. And so it waslike three months into this this regularly praying
(25:42):
about this, that there's an organizationcalled Youth for Christ and it's a national
organization and they had an automotive programfor like twenty years, but the guy
running it had tire and the programhad been dead in the water for like
(26:03):
six months. And so I hearabout that that they've been looking for someone
for six months right as I'm prayingabout this. And it's funny because yeah,
I mean, like I I didn'thave a vision for my life getting
into the trade, and I didn'thave a vision for my life either of
(26:26):
how how God wanted to use meto help other people and and boom,
he put it there in front ofme, like, and so, I
like working with my hands, Ilike starting new things. I also like
kids, even it was even whenI was like a depressed teenager. I've
(26:47):
just always liked kids. And Ilove having, you know, doing things
with my kids now. But well, and I and I so yeah,
so I so I heard about thatprogram and I ended up getting involved.
And it was just the guy whowho'd really the one guy who had been
(27:08):
involved with it mainly. And Istarted like recruiting volunteers, like, hey,
let's try to help some young peoplefigure out if they're good with their
hands or not. And so rightfrom the beginning I had some like like
in the career center in high schooland in the automotive technology program at Columbus
(27:29):
State. There's a lot of studentsthere who it wasn't their thing. And
like I've even hired guys from ColumbusState who, like, a couple of
months into working, I'm like,hey, I am so sorry, but
this is not your thing. AndI'm sorry you spent two years, you
know, two time, Luke.Do they think it's their thing or did
they don't know? They don't know? And and so I've designed the front
(27:53):
end of our program is just tofigure that question out because it seems like
an important thing before they get toofar down the path. And so a
good filter system. So yeah,So, like the first class is just
a it's just six hours total oversix weeks, an hour a week,
and and we have a lawnmower enginethat we disassemble and reassemble teach them how
(28:18):
it works, and then four otherstations as well. And then so we'll
teach them that and then we'll we'llpull out a stop watch and time them
and see how fast they can disassembleand reassemble the end. Wow. And
so it's really hands on interactive.By the way, is there a record
for that? What's the do youhave a record time? I think I
(28:40):
think someone did it in like threeor four minutes? Oh wow, Yeah
yeah, and that I mean it'sreally fun. We have, you know,
there's that competitive aspect and we havewe have tool prizes for the students
that place in the in the topof that class each class. So and
(29:00):
so we've had like four hundred studentscome through this now and and we do
this aptitude testing and we just invitethe students that have tested well to go
on in the program. And sothat's one of the parts of it that
I'm really excited about because I sawhow the aspects of it that didn't work
when when I did the programs inhigh school. And then sure, Luke,
(29:25):
you know, they're called at riskstudents, but they also have they
have hearts, they have feelings,they are human beings. You know,
we heard that word. Where whatare these kids coming from? Why are
they called at risk? Well,so it's not just as at risk students.
We will take any students. Okay, We're focusing on high school students
(29:48):
right now, although I'm hoping toopen up an additional program that's eighteen through
twenty five as well. A lotof sophomores in high school aren't ready to
get in their career yet. Themotivation isn't quite there yet. But but
but we have tried to focus ongetting out there to some of the rougher
(30:12):
sides of the town. We've gottenso and like how we've done that.
So we'll take our stations into highschools and put on our station out of
high school so like any student whowants to come try it can can come
do it and figure out if it'ssomething they're good or not, if it's
something they like or not see.And by the way, I haven't been
(30:33):
to a high school in a while, but I know that through the years.
I mean, shot class is oneof my favorite classes, you know,
growing up, especially in high school. But then years later I would
hear that that a lot of theseschool districts would would phase them out.
Is that true? Yeah? Yeah, I mean so I don't think,
(30:55):
well, at least at Columbus Public. When I went to wet Stone,
I think I think it was thelast year that they had would shop yeah,
would school. Yeah, And theydon't have it there anymore. That's
a shame of taken it all out. They've put it out a career center,
Okay. And that's the other thingthat drives me crazy about it is
(31:17):
it's so you get a twenty minutevisit of a program your sophomore year to
decide whether you want to spend twoyears in that program. A twenty minute
visit. Yeah, So that's that'sthe exposure that that you get to make
this massive decision, and it's it'slike, oh my gosh, like we
(31:40):
got to do better. And soI don't know, that's what that's what
motivated to get into is let's justlet some students try it out, see
if it's something they like. Ifit's not, hey, they know it's
they know that they're not going topursue that. So I love what you're
doing, Luke because it's it soundslike are you going to different school districts
then with like a mobile shop ifyou will, And yeah, that's bringing
(32:05):
the stations there. We do havetwo facilities where we have lifts and everything.
So one of them's off of Westbroad Street and then the other one
is off a seventy one and uhNorth Broadway, and that one's my church
is letting me use this twelve thousandsquare foot warehouse space there for free.
(32:30):
We've got six lifts in there,two classrooms. It's like, wow,
it's it's really cool spot. Butso so we'll bring students in to both
of our facilities as well. Andthen at the north side location has intermediate
and more advanced classes that we're developing. Yeah. So what's the future of
(32:52):
Luke's Auto Service. I mean,you keep growing and growing? Is that
the plan? Is it maybe franchisingdown the road? What what's in your
head? What are you thinking.I have such great people that I've kind
of foreseen for a while that Iwas going to have to add locations to
be able to give my great employeesopportunities to step up. And so we've
(33:16):
we just started this month a newlocation right down here off a Dublin Road
and Grandview Avenue. Wow, Congress, that's so real excited about that.
And and I'm looking at other placestoo. Oh that's great, So is
your vision. So you're thinking maybeget into the other suburbs, branch out,
(33:37):
maybe inside and outside two seventy.I think it's very likely will continue
to open locations as as they presentthemselves and as we find them, and
as I mean, as long asI've got great people working for me,
I want to keep giving them opportunitiesand letting them move up. How do
(34:01):
you, Luke, how do youbalance being the owner of this big and
successful auto service shop and your familywith your kids and your wife? How
do you do all that? What'sup? Is their dad time? Is
their husband time? On the weekends? What what do you do? How
do you do that? Well?First stuff, you get great people that
(34:22):
can run it for you. Andyeah, so I've I've done that,
and yeah, I like I mywife and I have a date to night.
I on kind of a date day. I leave work at three o'clock
and well we go, I haveall we spend time together and I try
to get dates with my kids oncea week. And yeah, we get
(34:46):
we're not open on weekends. Iwas gonna ask that's one thing that customers
don't like as much, but myemployees who have families love And you know,
that's been one of the things I'vebeen able to recruit people from other
shops, is like, I wantmy guys to be home with their families.
Yeah. So yeah, And itlooks somebody was going to bring up
(35:07):
too with your with your shop andthe auto service industry is things have changed
dramatically. I mean, the daysof trying to work on a car in
my garage myself are pretty much over. I can still put you know,
a little bit of oil in windshield, washer fluid, but a lot of
other stuff I can't do. SoI would imagine there's a lot of optics
(35:30):
to training your employees, to gettingthem up to beat up to speed on
everything. It's it's insane how thathow advanced cars are getting. And you
know, it just keeps advancing fasterand faster every year. So, well,
is there a model is that youwon't do? Is there any type
of brand you you won't work on? I've always wondered that because you're if
(35:53):
you think about it, you're nota You're not a Ford or a Chevy
dealership. You're you're independent. Butyou'll work on a lot of different brands.
Is there one you won't touch?That's well, So that's one advantage
of having a massive shop with thirtytwo bays. I mean I've I've been
able to get guys from different dealerships, different different specialties and and you know,
(36:19):
get this awesome group of technicians together. Who I mean, we can
we can do it all. That'sincredible. There's nothing we won't touch as
far as mechanical repair goes. Wow, we're not We're not. We don't
do any body work. But right, is there I don't know if you
can answer this or not, butjust out of curiosity with technology, with
some cars being maybe more difficult thanothers, is is there a maker model
(36:44):
that tends to be more difficult thanothers to work on? Just just challenging,
Well, you're asking the wrong personbecause I know I get it.
I'm just slinging ropes over trees forswings for my what are your guys?
Are your employees telling you? Imean it depends for different guys. I
(37:08):
mean, I mean there's kind ofa European cars can tend to be more
difficult, but if you get guysthat are familiar with them, then yeah,
it's it's all. It's all thesame. No, I wouldn't.
I wouldn't say there's anything that's you'lltake it all on. Well, I
(37:28):
mean we have not done very manylike Ferraris or Lamborghinis, but yeah,
well we can fix it all.Look, before we wrap up, I
want to wrap up with something westarted with, and that's, uh,
your incredible story about your battle depression. And that doesn't always, that doesn't
(37:51):
go away, It stays with you. You gotta figure out how to manage
it. How do you manage yours? Well? Medication has helped. Sure,
Uh, I think there's there's lifestylechanges that make a difference. But
(38:20):
ultimately, for me, I mean, it was what's what's the point of
life? And I don't know,I'm I'm more of a melancholy temperament,
and yeah, for me, forme, the source of depression was what
what is the point sure if ifultimately you know we're we're all going to
(38:45):
die and the universe will die ofheat death, and you know there'll be
no memory of anything, then thatthat was your thinking, yeah, and
your rough times yeah yeah. Andand so for me coming to understand that
(39:06):
there is a God who's personal andhe loves me, and he's not looking
for me to work my way andlive a good life to be able to
earn his approval. He he wantsto give that to me freely through the
Cross, and he just wants meto accept that and that that ah that
(39:31):
he wants to use me and otherpeople's lives, and he wants me to
He wants to use me to tomake a difference, even if it's even
if it's just one person's life.If I can just help one person,
I mean to me, it's like, that's that's the kind of thing that's
(39:51):
going to last and matter. Andso I I think I might, I
think I might always struggle with depression. But it's it's asking myself, am
I am I going to let thisrule my life? Or am I gonna
(40:14):
step out in faith and trust thatGod's going to take care of me and
that I I don't need to turninward. I can try to still try
to give out and and love thepeople in my life. Yeah, well
look you Yea. For what it'sworth, you have a lot to be
proud of. I mean, you'rea shining example and someone who it sounds
(40:37):
like, gives back every single day, you know, paying it forward.
So real honor to meet you.For those that want more info about Luke's
Auto service website, social media,where can they go, Yeah, Luke
Luke's Auto dot com or yeah,we're on Facebook and then the trade center.
(41:00):
So it's it's called equip Skills CenterOkay, and I think it's just
equip Skills Center dot com. Okay. And oh that's good. I'm glad
you brought that up. Yeah.Yeah, but we're really trying to get
the word out more and more onthat and we want as many students to
have an opportunity that's possible to checkthat out. Yeah. By the way,
Luke, before we go, Iwas looking at your website. I
(41:22):
love I love the coupon for thefree second opinion. I think I think
that's genius. That's a really goodone because in this day and age,
usually the you know someone's going tocharge you even to look at it,
So yeah, you can get it, really need the entire engine. Come
on by, we'll let you knowif it's just that gasket. Luke Walker,
(41:43):
who's with us and our latest gueston CEOs you Should Know Luke's Auto
Service. Thanks for being a guestthis week, Luke, Thanks so much
for having me. CEOs You ShouldKnow is hosted and produced by Brandon Boxer,
a production of iHeartMedia, Columbus
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