Three bad habits to break when running your own shop

Technicians are used to fixing things, from the trucks they work on in the shop to their personal projects at home. But when those technicians become shop owners, that urge to ‘fix’ everything themselves can become a habit that they need to lose. If they don’t, they risk falling into "Daddy-Fix-It syndrome," according to former technician and shop Peter Cooper, who is now CEO of Ascend Consulting.

Cooper related that a technician coming to the experienced owner for help with a complex problem can mimic the dynamic when a child runs to the parent to fix a toy or some other broken thing. 

“You get a lot of joy and personal fulfillment out of being the person who fixes it,” Cooper explained at Fullbay’s 2025 Diesel Connect. And while he said there’s nothing wrong with that mindset, it’s not ideal for a business owner with multiple ‘toys’ to fix at once while running their business.

“The problem with that [mindset] is, is that cycle will never get you out of where you're at,” Cooper added. “If you're trying to break into the next level of business, you have to change your mindset.”

This is easier said than done, as many techs-turned-owners have been fixing things since they were kids. And it's not the only behavior that drives a tech to succeed but can hold back a shop leader, according to Cooper. Below he outlines three bad habits and why you should try to break them once you trade your coveralls for business casual.

Bad habit: I’ll do it myself

Somewhat similar to the ‘Daddy-Fix-It’ syndrome is the idea that shop owners need to do everything themselves, which goes hand-in-hand with the thought that it’ll take longer for an owner to teach someone how to do something than if they just do it themselves. But that mindset is an issue for two reasons (unless you’re a one-man show), both on a macro and micro scale, Cooper explained.

On a larger scale, he noted that trying to run a whole business without delegation and support from your employees will ultimately limit the business.

“The business can only get as big as you, and you're only one person,” Cooper said. “Shop owners need to understand that the secret to running your shop is having a shop that can run without you.”

As an example, Cooper relayed the advice he gives to shop owners who approach him saying they want to start a second shop. For him, his rule is that if that shop owner goes on vacation for a month and their phone rings more than once a week, then they’re not ready for a second shop, because they’ve tied their current operations to their physically being in the office. That shop owner can’t grow their business, because ultimately, “the business isn’t running, you’re running it,” Cooper said.

Then, on a micro scale, shop owners need to be willing and able to let their employees participate in the business to grow and retain them, too. After all, if a shop owner refuses to take the time to show their employees how they want tasks to be done, then they’re not only denying that employee the chance to grow and improve, but “you’re stealing that win from them” when they achieve something they couldn’t before, Cooper added.

“True leadership is how good you are at making your people better,” he asserted.

Bad habit: Fighting fires

Technicians turn and burn, spending all day jumping from one job to another. Their sense of urgency to make repairs and hit shop performance metrics could feel like a constant fight against a fire that just won't quit. That kind of determination, solving one problem after another, can be good for a technician, but keeping that furious pace as a shop owner can only create a business that is always busy, yet never gets anything done in the long run, Cooper noted.

He said as a shop owner, that pattern can make you "addicted to the chaos of your shop." And once you create that type of environment, you'll attract like-minded employees

Cooper said this kind of technician may end up as disorganized as their boss, and can only react to problems instead of anticipating and strategizing for them. That's how mistakes are made.

The bottom line is that if you treat every small problem like a five-alarm inferno that must be handled immediately, the rest of the shop will, too. Showing grace under fire, on the other hand, will reduce eveyone's stress levels and foster a think-before-you-act mentality.

Bad habit: I fix trucks, not people

While this isn’t true for all technicians, one of the hardest parts of transitioning from turning wrenches to leading a shop isn’t helping a tech with a challenging diagnostic; it’s managing them as a person.

“What I used to tell my managers and different people that I coach is that ‘You don't fix trucks,’” Cooper commented. “’As managers, you fix people.’ And I know that's a hard concept.”

What this means is that shop owners need to get out of the mindset that leadership and management simply means telling an employee how to handle a wheel-end inspection or calibrate the ADAS. Instead, they have to be able to support their employees on an emotional level, too.

“Sometimes you have to actually be a therapist,” Cooper emphasized. “Be aware of your employees. Be careful about their mindset and who they are.”

After all, he noted that a shop’s best tech can become their worst overnight, perhaps during a tumultuous divorce or a death in the family. And even without these extreme situations, shop owners and managers still need to truly manage their employees as human beings instead of relentless productivity machines.

“You want to see a guy get divorced really fast?” Cooper asked. “Let him work 60 hours a week, non-stop. Sometimes you have to be their friend and be like ‘You can slow down.’”