Foundation Members

Foundation Members
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Welcome to the Shopmonkey Community Forum!

Community of people who use Shopmonkey to help run, understand and grow their business

Welcome Foundation Members!

If you’re reading this, you’re one of the first people in the Shopmonkey Community — and that actually means something. This isn’t a finished product with all the answers already figured out. It’s early, it’s wide open, and the people who show up now are the ones who get to set the tone for what this place becomes.

So before you go browsing around, we’d love to hear from you. Drop a reply below with whatever comes to mind — even a one-liner helps.

A few things we’re curious about:

What do you actually want to talk about here? What topics would get you to come back and check in regularly?

Have you been part of other forums or communities that you liked? What made them good — and what made you stick around?

On the flip side — what have you seen in other communities that you’d rather we skip? We’d rather know now than learn the hard way.

Is there a topic you know inside and out — something you’d want to be the go-to voice on?

And honestly — what would make this place worth your time? We’re building this for shop owners and operators, not for us. So tell us what useful looks like to you.

There’s no wrong answer here. Post as much or as little as you want. The whole point is that this community gets shaped by the people in it — and right now, that’s you.

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Hey Zack, thanks for the invite. I think this is a great place to gather knowledge together and tackle issues as a community. Sometimes we lose really good information in group chats or social media groups that move fast — by the time you need it, it’s buried. I love the idea of a traditional forum where good information actually sticks around and stays searchable.

Topics I’d come back for:

I’m a huge fan of mastering the basics. As shop owners we wear a lot of hats when we start out and it quickly becomes chaotic. I wish I knew then what I know now. I’d love to see real conversations around KPIs and what numbers actually matter, pricing strategies, branding and marketing, recruiting, and customer experience and communication.

I also think there’s a huge need to talk about mindset and thought process — the mental side of running a shop doesn’t get enough attention and I think its the most important part.

Another big one for me is technology. I’m somewhat technically savvy and I think it’s important that shop owners embrace tech and AI instead of hiding from it. We should be learning how to use and even create tools that make our lives easier. The shops that figure this out now are going to be miles ahead sooner than you’d think.

I’d also love to see conversations around building real organizational structure — establishing roles, delegating properly, and transitioning from doing everything yourself to actually leading. Too many owners are stuck putting out fires every day instead of working on the business. That shift is everything. For a lot of people, working ON their business vs IN their business is a big one.

Where I can help:

I have two shops — a BMW-Only shop and a general repair shop. If there are new shop owners out there who feel overwhelmed or don’t know where to start, that’s where I can add value. I’ve been in that exact spot and I know how much it helps to have someone say “start here, focus on this, ignore that for now.”

One thing I’ve also noticed is that a lot of Shopmonkey users aren’t aware of everything the platform can actually do. There are features and settings that can seriously change how your shop runs day to day, and most people are only scratching the surface. I’ve spent a lot of time digging into Shopmonkey and I’d be happy to help people use it at a higher level to get more out of their business.

Things like daily operations, systems, inspections, customer communication, team culture, and understanding your numbers. These are the basics and I think there is always room for improvement.

What I’d love to see this community skip:

I’ve been in a few communities over the years. Some helped me more than I could explain, others I just couldn’t connect with. The ones that lost me were heavy on the “rah rah” bro talk — all hype, no substance.

What I’d rather see here is a focus on genuinely caring for our customers. Customer experience always comes first, and profit will always follow. If we build this community around that mindset, I believe we’ll see a lot of value come from it.

Otherwise, generally excited about this!

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Thank you for the invitation.

I have been a part of forums mainly dealing with the retail, wholesale, and financial automotive industries. Many had hard designs with little flexibility that were good for beginners but took some time before they grew to a point where more seasoned members could begin to really draw from it.

For me, understanding how other shops are managing their profit margins on parts and where they are on their labor rates is of great interest to me. Additionally, developing accurate metric and financial data is of great importance.

As for what I may be able to help someone with, I have over 10 years franchise experience in executive management and 15 years’ experience as an independent owner of both a dealership and shop. I can be helpful with aggregating data and creating business plans and understanding financial capabilities. I am also well versed in helping businesses become bankable for growth and expansion loans. We have recently decided to focus 95% of our efforts on service and repair.

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I really resonate with this - thanks for being here and I look forward to partnering with you to help other shops!

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Fantastic - I’m excited to see other shops take advantage of your experience and how we can build up others to thrive.

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What about you @RandallPullen @s4master1 @CTMSMotorsports? Thanks for accepting the invite - we’re glad you’re here!

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What do you actually want to talk about here? What topics would get you to come back and check in regularly?
Yes — time tracking, billing, invoices, QuickBooks integrations, and reporting are big ones for me.

Beyond that:

  • Pricing strategies that actually work in today’s market

  • How other shops structure labor, deposits, and cash flow

  • Hiring, training, and retaining solid techs

  • Handling difficult customers and setting expectations

  • Diagnostics and problem-solving on modern platforms

  • What’s working right now in marketing and lead flow

If it helps me run a tighter, more profitable shop, I’ll keep checking in.

Have you been part of other forums or communities that you liked? What made them good — and what made you stick around?
Yes, but most of them turned into complaining and whining without real solutions, so I left.

The ones that had value were the ones where:

  • Operators shared real numbers and real experiences

  • People focused on solving problems, not just venting

  • Questions actually got answered

That’s what keeps people around.

On the flip side — what should we skip?

  • Complaining with no solutions

  • Keyboard warriors with no real shop experience

  • Ego-driven posts with no substance

  • Generic advice that doesn’t apply to real-world shops

  • Sales pitches disguised as “help”

Keep it practical and solution-focused.

Is there a topic you know inside and out — something you’d want to be the go-to voice on?
High-performance shop operations and scaling.

  • Managing high horsepower builds and expectations

  • Diagnosing complex issues (electrical, fueling, drivability)

  • Structuring performance packages for profit

  • Customer communication when things don’t go as planned

  • Running a shop that balances performance work with consistency

What would make this place worth your time?
Make it useful and actionable.

  • Insights I can apply immediately

  • Honest conversations between real operators

  • High signal, low noise

If this becomes a place where I can improve how I run my shop and avoid mistakes others have already made, I’ll stay active and contribute.

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Thanks @rwragth! I’m glad that you’re here and appreciate the expertise and experience you’ll bring to the table.

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First off, thank you for the invite. I imagine everyone here has a desire to grow ourselves, our industry and our integral software provider. Thank you for your continual efforts to provide a better service for us. As much as you can influence the outcome, the onus for a successful community often falls on its members. It is as much our responsibility as it is yours to make this successful.

Q: What do you actually want to talk about here? What topics would get you to come back and check in regularly?

A: I care deeply about providing a high level of service that wows people. Everyone has their own version of giving that last 10% most customers are not expecting: personalized follow-ups, that extra quart of oil at the end, free merchandise; what is your Give ‘em the Pickle? I have some personal concerns about this devolving into another “target X gross, make Y amount per lift, etc.” as so many shop owner communities already are where so much great content already exists. That isn’t to say there is not a space for that here, but I would like to see this be something bigger that is about offering great service alongside making great money and growing our knowledge along the way. Shopmonkey serves a large number of extremely talented individuals who can bring a lot to the table here. For example: Detailed discussions about what the current reality of the EPA is and how it shapes our industry. It is easy for this to become political but there are some important conversations to be had around what the EPA has been, what it is, and what it could be again in the future. How about Magnusson Moss and right to repair? How are we working together towards a better tomorrow? And not just a profitable one today..

Q: Have you been part of other forums or communities that you liked? What made them good — and what made you stick around?

A: Yes, I grew up on enthusiast and hobbyist forums that worked so well because they could be a melting pot where both the newcomers and the seasoned vets could mesh together. Many of these old forum threads are still fantastic resources today, although many are missing photos (thanks Java and Photobucket) there is often nowhere else to find the answer you are looking for. This has largely moved to Facebook groups and Discord which do work well for keeping experienced individuals together at the cost of hiding content and often being a tough barrier-to-entry for newcomers. While I don’t expect this platform to become something we would find on a Google search, ensuring that welcoming atmosphere that is filled with valuable information from people who want to be here will go a long way. There has been no shortage of discourse regarding the death of forums that I am sure can do a better job touching base on these subjects than I can.

Q: On the flip side — what have you seen in other communities that you’d rather we skip? We’d rather know now than learn the hard way.

A: Gatekeeping and trolling. I get it, you’re the end-all-be-all expert on everything insert subject here but I am here looking for entry-level guidance on how to get into this hobby. StackOverflow is a great example to this point, and the searchable forum point above. A community has to stay knowledgeable and helpful to survive and thrive. In a modern LLM driven world, how can you maintain a human connection without it becoming a constant min/max conversation?

Q: Is there a topic you know inside and out — something you’d want to be the go-to voice on?

A: Not in this space. I am happy to consider myself a small plecostomus in a big pond with lots to learn and grow into; here to help keep the place clean and strive towards a better tomorrow but not the star of the show.

Q: And honestly — what would make this place worth your time?

A: I think I would consider this resource successful if I am referring to it roughly once a week for new inspiration and for occasional problem solving. It would be great to find meaningful discussions of new content drops without it necessarily becoming the free-for-all the Feedback/Feature Request space has become. Most of us here are working well over 40 hours a week and probably don’t feel like we have loads of spare time - this is worth my time if content is focused, concise, and effective much like forums were a couple decades ago. What if I could receive a notification for responses here right within my standard Shopmonkey app? Making it one large ecosystem would go a long way to keep many of us connected here in a busy world demanding even more of our time.

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Dude - this had me rolling :rofl:

Welcome! We’re pumped that you’re here.