Do you feel like you’re out there on your own sometimes? You’re a shop owner and the weight of the entire operation rests on your shoulders. Any one decision you make could make or break your shop.
That’s a huge burden, but you don’t have to carry it alone.
You may not know it, but there are plenty of other people out there just like you or who used to feel the way you do. Then they banded together to help people in the situation you’re in now.
Imagine a group of people dedicated to tackling the needs of shops like yours, many of them running shops just like yours. A group that’s there for you and gives you access to more resources and more advantages than you could manage on your own.
Here are a few examples for general repair, collision, and heavy-duty shops:
General Repair
Take the Automotive Service Councils of California (ASCCA), for example, they offer members the opportunity to take advantage of opportunities from education and online forums to local events (in California) and access to their industry partnerships. The most interesting of which is the ability to influence legislation, not only being able to help your shop on a business level but being able to sway the laws that govern your shop.
Collision
For collision shops, there’s Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) that offers its members an incredible wealth of resources. SCRS has strategic partnerships that are geared specifically toward helping collision shops, many of which are tools that can be implemented to streamline a shop’s day-to-day activity.
SCRS also offers resources for training, planning, and industry news, among others. Each of these opportunities is cultivated to empower and strengthen the business of running a collision shop.
Heavy-Duty
Allied Members of the American Trucking Association (ATA) get exclusive access to a large network that covers a large segment of the heavy-duty aftermarket industry. Membership gets you access to potential customers with positioning at networking events, conferences, and etc.
You also become part of an advocacy group that is set up to shape the tide of the industry. You will gain influence as well as line to valuable resources to help your shop succeed well into the future.
Being a member of one of these associations doesn’t rob you of your autonomy, because at the end of the day, the business is yours to run and the final say will always be yours. It’s you who can and will choose to take advantage of these opportunities.
You will get out of it what you put into it.
