From the Magazine: Aiming higher

Don’t want to be running on fumes at this time next year? You need to plan better for your business

By the time December rolls around, most independent repair shop owners are running on fumes and promising themselves the same vague thing for next year: Work harder, do more, hope it pays off.

You already know that isn’t a real plan. It’s just a more exhausting version of the year you’ve already had.

Next year is going to demand more than “be better, do more.” Vehicles are more complex, customers expect constant communication and good techs can write their own ticket.

The question isn’t, “How do I squeeze more out of myself?” It’s “What kind of business do I actually want to be running a year from now, and what kind of life do I want to be living alongside it?”

Those two questions are linked. If you burn yourself out, the business suffers. If the business has no direction, you never get your life back.

Instead of starting with targets or tools, start with a picture.

The question isn’t, “How do I squeeze more out of myself?” It’s “What kind of business do I actually want to be running a year from now, and what kind of life do I want to be living alongside it?”

If someone in your town were describing your shop in December 2026, what would you want them to say? Maybe it’s, “They’re the only place I trust with my EV,” or “They explain things so clearly, I never feel stupid or pressured.” Whatever it is, it has to be more specific than “good shop, fair price.” Those are the bare minimum.

Now look honestly at how you’re working. Are your days set up to build that kind of reputation, or just to survive? Are you spending your best energy on diagnosis, leadership, and strategy — or on chasing parts, redoing estimates and putting out fires that shouldn’t have started?

Underneath it all is you. Your sleep. Your stress. Your health. Your ability to think clearly instead of snapping at a tech or a customer because you’re on your fifth coffee and haven’t had a real day off in weeks.

Owners often talk about “taking care of the business” as if they’re separate from it. But the shop runs on your nervous system. If you’re constantly fried, decisions get reactive instead of strategic. Training gets postponed. Tough conversations get avoided. Opportunities pass by because you’re too tired to even see them.

So when you think about 2026, don’t just ask, “What kind of numbers do I want?” Ask, “What kind of schedule do I want? How many nights do I want to be home for dinner? What boundaries need to be in place so I’m still sharp in December, not just crawling to the finish line again?”

This is where “doing it all myself” stops working. At some point, white-knuckling through another year hits its limits. The best people in any field — athletes, executives, top shop owners — don’t wait until they’re in crisis to get help. They bring someone in to challenge their thinking, build better habits, personal and professional and keep them accountable to the life and business they say they want.

But the shop runs on your nervous system. If you’re constantly fried, decisions get reactive instead of strategic.

As you look ahead to 2026, it’s worth asking yourself:

• Who is helping me see what I can’t see?
• Who is helping me design a business that supports my health instead of draining it?
• Who is keeping me focused when the day-to-day chaos tries to pull me back into old patterns?

If the answers to those questions is “no one,” that might be the biggest opportunity in front of you.

Most shops will roll into January and repeat the same year with a new calendar. You don’t have to. You can decide that 2026 is the year you invest in your systems, your positioning in the market — and in yourself as the leader at the centre of it all.

Greg Aguilera is a director of IAC Canada, an organization dedicated to the management development of repair shops in Canada. He can be reached at greg@intautoconsulting.com.

This article originally appeared in the December issue of CARS magazine