New Podcast Episode with Destiny Potter, Nissan Certified Collision Estimator of Andy Mohr Collision Center in Indianapolis, IN.
A mixture of factors sparked Potter’s interest in the collision repair industry. At age five, she helped her father with small repairs on his vehicles. They watched automotive TV shows together, and he helped her begin a Hot Wheels collection. When her dad passed away, she started to look up to her Grandpa, who works at a GM plant, and her Uncle, who owned his own shop for motorcycles, scooters and ATVs. And, Destiny also stated that without her mom, she would have given up on her dreams. She’s always had her back and would never let her give up.
Granted, Destiny still never fully decided she wanted to be in this industry until about the end of her middle school. She lost interest in her other hobbies, but her interest in cars never died. So, she decided that she would dedicate her high school years to automotive, design and business management classes.
After high school, Potter attended the Lincoln College of Technology in Indianapolis, pursuing an associate degree in service management and an I-CAR certification. During her senior year in 2016, Potter became acquainted with CREF and met CREF Director of Development Brandon Eckenrode when the foundation awarded her a $2,000 Lon Baudoux Memorial Scholarship.
With the support of CREF, Destiny Potter is jumping every hurdle in her path – and gaining a lot of experience along the way. When the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) erased Destiny Potter’s student debt in 2017, it did not erase every challenge she would face while pursuing a career in the collision repair industry. However, with the support of CREF, a solid education, devotion to the industry and some good old-fashioned determination, Potter is jumping every hurdle in her path – and gaining a lot of experience along the way.
During her senior year, Potter also became an ABRA Auto Body & Glass part-time employee, detailing cars for nine months. She originally planned to become a painter, but when ABRA offered the opportunity to become the youngest estimator in the Indiana market, Potter saw it as a step closer to her ultimate goal: becoming a “Jill-of-all-trades” in the shop environment.
Potter’s estimating skills grew at ABRA for four years until February 2020, when she found herself unemployed due to COVID-related downsizing.
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Website: https://claritycoat.com
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New Podcast Episode with Destiny Potter, Nissan Certified Collision Estimator of Andy Mohr Collision Center in Indianapolis, IN.
A mixture of factors sparked Potter’s interest in the collision repair industry. At age five, she helped her father with small repairs on his vehicles. They watched automotive TV shows together, and he helped her begin a Hot Wheels collection. When her dad passed away, she started to look up to her Grandpa, who works at a GM plant, and her Uncle, who owned his own shop for motorcycles, scooters and ATVs. And, Destiny also stated that without her mom, she would have given up on her dreams. She’s always had her back and would never let her give up.
Granted, Destiny still never fully decided she wanted to be in this industry until about the end of her middle school. She lost interest in her other hobbies, but her interest in cars never died. So, she decided that she would dedicate her high school years to automotive, design and business management classes.
After high school, Potter attended the Lincoln College of Technology in Indianapolis, pursuing an associate degree in service management and an I-CAR certification. During her senior year in 2016, Potter became acquainted with CREF and met CREF Director of Development Brandon Eckenrode when the foundation awarded her a $2,000 Lon Baudoux Memorial Scholarship.
With the support of CREF, Destiny Potter is jumping every hurdle in her path – and gaining a lot of experience along the way. When the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) erased Destiny Potter’s student debt in 2017, it did not erase every challenge she would face while pursuing a career in the collision repair industry. However, with the support of CREF, a solid education, devotion to the industry and some good old-fashioned determination, Potter is jumping every hurdle in her path – and gaining a lot of experience along the way.
During her senior year, Potter also became an ABRA Auto Body & Glass part-time employee, detailing cars for nine months. She originally planned to become a painter, but when ABRA offered the opportunity to become the youngest estimator in the Indiana market, Potter saw it as a step closer to her ultimate goal: becoming a “Jill-of-all-trades” in the shop environment.
Potter’s estimating skills grew at ABRA for four years until February 2020, when she found herself unemployed due to COVID-related downsizing.
If you are interested in learning more about ClarityCoat, you can visit us here-
Website: https://claritycoat.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/claritycoatofficial
Instagram: https://instagram.com/claritycoat_official
This is the Autobody podcast presented by Clarity Coat. We'll get stories and talk to people from all over the industry, painters, body guys, manufacturers, and anybody in between. Let's do it. Welcome to the Autobody Podcast, auto Body Podcast, presented by Clarity Coat. Now, here's your host, Adam Huber. Hey everybody.
Welcome back to the podcast. It is the second episode of 23, but you get, this will be like number three or four. I don't know. This is the second recording. In 23, we have Destiny Potter on from Indianapolis, Indiana, Andy Moore Collision Center, and she's got a pretty cool story. Not only is she a kick ass female in the collision industry, but she, uh, had a pretty neat story about.
College, college debt and everything like that from a previous guest that we had on the podcast. Destiny, you're gonna have to help me with who the previous guest was. Uh, I'm blanking on the guy. Brandon. Brandon Eck Road Bra. Yep, that's right Brandon. It, what is it? Eing Road or Eing? Rodd. Eck. I think it's Road
Well, we'll go with that one. Um, how, how are you doing today? Um, I am doing pretty good. How are you? Pretty I'm doing well. Thanks for asking. Um, first and most important question, did you guys get a ton of snow over there at all? No, not really. Um, it got little freezing, but that was about it. We probably got, I wouldn't even say six inches at least in Indianapolis and it didn't stay very long.
That's bullshit. . , uh, where I'm at, we got, not only do we get down to negative 50 something, but. We also got 20 plus inches of snow in like four days. Oh my goodness. Something like that. So we really got, yeah, we got slammed. Um, okay. Anyways, now for the stuff that people are actually gonna care about, destiny, can you tell us a little bit about, um, how you guys started into the, in the industry?
Um, you know, like when did you start getting into cars? Have you, have you ever been into cars? Like, tell us a little bit about what Young Destiny was like. Um, so basically when I was younger, I started out just playing with Hot Wheels, just being the abnormal female. Um, didn't really play with dolls a whole lot.
It was just hot wheels and cars. I was watching a lot of car TV shows. Um, I helped my stepdad out with his car whenever it broke down, as well as a little bit of detailing here and there. Um, later on, kind of in high school, I started taking steps to better my life from what I was going through and started.
Taking high school vocational classes. Then the senior year, I finally got into a really good vo-tech here in Indiana and really kind of hit it off. Was doing Skills usa, the transportation club and stuff like that. And then just kind of went for there. I, I've always loved cars from as far as I can remember.
That's awesome. Um, so you used to play around with Hot Wheels and everything like that? Mm-hmm. , hot Wheels, race cars, little mo patrol cars. I loved it. . Um, so what did your, what did your dad think about having like a, I mean, are we allowed to say tomboy kind of girl or like ? Um, my stepdad absolutely loved it.
Um, he passed away when I was nine, however, . My father himself was a little iffy on it. He was not very supportive. Probably the only one who wasn't very supportive. He's like, you're a female, you should be doing girl more girly things like modeling or something else. And I'm just like, that's not me. And he's just like, you're not gonna make a living.
Well, I'm kind of here proving him wrong every day. And now his aspect on things has like completely changed. He's like, I'm so proud of you. I said, yep, I bet you are
So did, has your mom always kind of supported that as well then? Absolutely. A hundred percent every step of the way. Uh, she's been there with me through thick and thin, even all my days when I was like, I want to quit this. I can't do it anymore. . That's good. Um, was, was your mom kind of a, um, tomboy when she was younger or not at all?
No. No. Um, , my uncles, they are into mechanics, obviously different from collision. My grandpa works at the gm uh, manufacturing branch here in Indiana. I believe it's the one in Anderson. Um, so I just kind of look at my grandpa as a big inspiration to me continuing on with this and growing my skills and that.
That's awesome. Uh, so was your grandpa a big part of like, um, when you were growing up, like did you ever hang out at the shop or anything like that or ever talk to him? Like do you get to talk shop with him now about stuff or now Yes. Um, we didn't necessarily talk shop a whole lot back then. Um, of course everybody was just like, my older family was pretty much taking the whole aspect of what anybody would.
They would just say, Hey, you know, you are a female in a male's industry, you know, , it is what it is. We don't really have high expectations, but obviously I'm proving them wrong, . Um, but now, um, I actually just seen him this weekend and he's like, oh, you would really love this was showing me pictures of his Corvette and we were talking about my car, which my car is downstairs in the garage.
I've been trying to replace the engine for like the past two months now. It's just a lot to do. . What, what car do you have? I have a 13th velo turbo. Um, the engine kind of was like done dealing with me having a lead foot . Um, so yeah. Uh, basically venter rod and the car's like, no, I'm done no more. Uh, do you have it modified at all?
Like is engine wise? Uh, right now it's just a cold air intake, uh, ISR racing exhaust. Cosmetics out the wazo. But as far as, you know, rebuilding the engine, I'm putting four rods, rods and pistons in it. I'm doing a imported head assembly. My cranks are damaged, so I've gotta replace those and then I'm doing a stage two stuffed turbo on it.
Dang. Nice. That thing's gonna rip when it's going. I hope so. , . Otherwise you just spent a whole bunch of money for no reason. It, the velo are like a main problem right now because everybody just has too many problems and the engines constantly fail. And I'm just like, this is my baby. I'm sticking out with it.
Uh, I don't care how much money you're gonna throw into it. , you know, I'm just gonna throw this out there. But as an, as an Audi guy mm-hmm. , you could just give yourself a nice, you know, S four, um, with a supercharger, throw all that stuff at it and it's just gonna keep going. Yeah. Just. Just a hot. Sure.
Um, okay, so, uh, let's go, let's go to high school really quick. So, in high school, did you kind of know that you wanted to do collision repair then? Or like at what point, what grade did you kind of like figure out, okay, this, this is where I want to go, this is the industry that I want to go into? So, freshman and sophomore year I really used to, um, more or less explore what kind of careers I was into.
So it was like 3D printing arts, it was, um, building houses and stuff like that. But I still took transportation classes to really get to know like the mechanics portion of things. And then, . My junior year, I actually used to become a lifeguard and in my senior year I was like, I'm focusing this on collision because I need something, I need a change, I need something.
Cuz I haven't quite figured out if I'm going mechanics or collision. And then, uh, when I got into the collision class, my senior year, my instructor was the most helpful person in the world. Literally changed my life. Um, that's where I met Brandon. We conversated and really got to know each other and was, we met at the Speedway Celebrities and Cars event, if I remember that's the exact name of the event.
Um, but that was in Chicago Land Speedway. Um, but it was, it was at that time, like the industry as a whole, I felt like, just took me in my senior year was like, um, you're not going anywhere else. You're staying here and this is what you're doing. This is your destiny, no pun intended. , absolutely. We fully meant that one.
uh, what do you have an okay, so that's kind of fascinating because, you know, teachers can have a really big influence on what we like and what we don't like. As an example, when I was in high school, I took an art class. Now, destiny, I'm just, I'm just gonna ask you a question. Do you think that art is interpretive?
I mean, you could say that. I'm, I'm gonna say that it is. What, what, what looks like great art to some people looks like absolute garbage to other people, right? Absolutely. Like, it's just, it's just you creating stuff, right? Absolutely. So the whole idea of grading art in the first place just seems stupid to me.
But anyways, had a project, I spent the entire weekend on it, not even during the weekday, came in. And it was a, it was a picture of a car going around a racetrack, right? And the art teacher said, you're getting an F because the race car is gonna go into the wall. And I just looked at her, I was like, that's the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard in my entire life.
And just tore it up, interface. And then went out in the hallway, punched a locker, almost got expelled. You know, that type of thing. Um, anyways, so that just kind of turned me off of art, you know, like, it's not like I was a big art guy in the first place, but it's just those, it's just those instances in a very formidable time of your life that, uh, can really shape you.
So what was it about your teacher that, when you were going through there, was it just because he was like really supportive and really explained things really well, made it fun? Like what was it, what was, what was it about that class that just really drew you in? So, my vo-tech, um, instructor, Edward Calco.
um, was very sincere and serious about the class. He made sure that I was engaged at all times and paying attention. Um, I was pretty much the one that if we had group projects or something to do, everybody was like, oh no, we want Destiny, cuz Destiny's gonna make sure that we get, you know, good grades and do everything correctly.
Um, especially when it came to Skills usa I had a group of friends and they were like detachable from me. They just wouldn't go . So we did a lot of group projects, but, um, Edward HaCo would definitely like, keep an eye on me and whenever something new came up, he's like, destiny, I want you to try this. Um, I want you to get involved, whatever.
And then when Skills USA came up, he's just like, I definitely want you to try this. Whether you do refinish or this, like, he noticed that I was doing better with refinishing than welding, cuz. . I'm not a fan of welding . Um, but I can refinish things all day long. I love painting. I love the, um, the after fact, just the fresh clear.
It's great . Um, but, and you get to, you get to get hot , but that's not good. That's dangerous for you, . Oh right, yeah, of course. Obviously. Yeah. Absolutely. . Forgot that part. You know, we got painters croaking out here because of that stuff.
What? Um, okay, so I'm guess I'm guessing that when you're going through this class, probably heavily male dominated, right? Um, how, were you the only girl in there or was there a couple of other girls? We had two. Or three other females. One of them got kicked out and one of them was a second year vocational tech student.
So she was doing, um, she was doing like apprenticeship work instead of actually coming into vo tech school, which was an option. Then, uh, oh, the PM class. There was probably three or four other girls and they were there at all times and they actually, two of them became really close friends with me, whereas the two girls in my class did not.
They were just kind of different levels. So.
Interesting. That's, that's actually How big of a class do you, would you say that you guys have? It was, I would easily say 30 students.
Wow. Okay. , that's a, I mean, that's actually, I guess that's actually probably, maybe only a little bit above industry norms. Mm-hmm. , if, if I were to, um, guess, you know, let's say three, four females to, let's just say, um, 25 guys or something like that, right. I mean, that's probably trending just a bit higher than what industry norms are.
Mm-hmm. . So that's all to say like, but it doesn't, you don't seem like the type of girl that gets intimidated or felt intimidated, but in those kinds of circumstances, like you're obviously your skills and everything like that, you were proving yourself to be just as good or better than any, any guy in the classroom.
So I'm guessing it wasn't a big deal for you. No, not at all. I mean, the guys would actually come to me for advice and stuff and be like, Hey, so what about this? Or what about this? And I'm just like, okay, well don't do this and definitely do this. Um, but just like back to my point where the guys would actually come to me for things about like Skills USA and transportation class, um, obviously transportation is another set from, or another thing, a part of Skills usa and obviously we all had to get along to make up ideas for, um, just kinda like events and fundraisers and stuff.
Yeah. Um, what was the, what was one of the skillsets that you picked up really quickly, um, that other people like struggled with? Was it painting refinish? Like, sanding? Like what, what was one of the skills that you picked up really fast? Um, I would have to say probably the technique of painting. in my eyes.
Uh, the instructor was always on us about pressure, making sure the gauge was at the correct pressure, making sure the tip of the gun was at the correct angle, so on, so forth. And just making sure our gun was set up correctly. So I was very quick to really catch on to that stuff and keep up with it. To this day, even though I haven't painted in probably five or six years, um, still pretty much keep the basic concept in the back of my head just in case if I ever want to move from being an estimator to a painter
or you know, if you want to do a recolor on a sweet Hyundai Velociter Turbo Sr. Or whatever, whatever you guys call it. I mean, it's already Matt Gray, so I don't wanna do that cause it's already unique. . Oh, it's Matt. Yes. It's the hardest thing to take care of. It's my best friend. . Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's those things, those statements are definitely true.
Mm-hmm. , it definitely is the hardest one to take care of. Mm-hmm. . Um, okay. So, so after high school, did you stay in that same program then? Like, I'm sorry if I'm, if I'm not understanding how this program necessarily works, but did you stay in that same program to do the vo-tech part or, um, did you go to a different vo-tech one or was, were you referring to vo-tech?
Um, previously, so the way our high school worked, because I was up on top of my credits and stuff, is we would go to vo-tech school. Um, which mine was in Greenwood at Essential Nine Central Nine Vocational School. Um, we would go there early in the morning and spend half the day there, which would be about four hours.
We would come back half lunch. And then continue on with like the last four of our classes. And that was basically it. And this is during the senior year? Yes. Your, your senior year. Yep. Is that right? Yep. See, um, you know, when we had, uh, uh, we've had a lot of people on talking about how to fix this problem with having, with getting students into like shop class and everything like that.
Um, and a lot of people have brought up, maybe I've agreed with them, I, I don't know necessarily know, but, um, combining forces with a vo-tech in a high school to do basically what you're talking about, which is instead of, um, because shop classes are relatively expensive to operate, right? You've got.
Engines that you have to bring in for the mechanic class. You have tools and all these other things. Well, a vo-tech has to buy all those same things anyways. So if you combine forces with the local high school, then it becomes much more feasible to get something like this going. And d So your senior year then, um, did you have another couple of years in, in that vo-tech program, or how did that work?
No, it was just that one year. After that one year, um, I went straight into college, like literally two months after I graduated high school.
Oh, okay. And then was, and was this like a traditional college then? Uh, it's a vocational college. It was Lincoln Tech.
Hmm. Lincoln Tech. Okay. And then did you go for collision repair? That collision and business management could, so, could you, could you go to that vo-tech if you wanted to? That I don't exactly know. Um, for what I did know, it was a combination of a bunch of high schools being shuttled over to the VO-tech school, but I believe the AM was solely for students.
In the PM you could possibly do certain things like that, but it was very seldom. Okay. Okay. So you go to, you go to Lincoln Tech and um, did you have another two years there in, um, collision repair then Lincoln Tech? My college time was probably a solid 15 or 16 months, um, the last three months. Oh, okay.
Were just business management classes so I could get my degree in business management.
Okay. So. . Um, so you just had another, you just basically had another year of collision repair and then, um, let's call it half a year of business management then pretty much . Nice. Yeah. See that would be really interesting if you could go from, um, cause the vo-tech of that is a part of your high school program, if you could just basically roll right into that the next year and then do another year there or year and a half, just kinda like what you did and then you're able to walk out of there with a, you know, degree in whatever field you want to be in.
Mm-hmm. , I mean, VO-tech already has such a huge leg up on traditional college where um, instead of doing four years, you do two. Um, and also they're typically lower cost than your traditional mm-hmm. . So that would be really interesting if, if you have somebody who is really enjoying being doing mechanic work or collision work, you know, whatever, they've already done a year in their, um, senior year of high school, and then they roll into that same exec school, do another year or year and a half into it, and then they can come out of it and they've only spent, I don't, let's say 10 grand in tuition, um, to do that.
Man, that's, that would be crazy. Crazy good, right? Like crazy good. What do you have thoughts on that? Like, I, I, I mean, just do you have, do you have an opinion on that at all? Um, so a lot of people may actually not like my opinion. Um, as a, I like it. We're here for the controversy, , right? Um, as somebody who has gone through high school, vocational tech and then as well as college at Lincoln.
Um, I enjoyed my time at vo-Tech more than I did college. I felt like I learned more in vo-tech, but that could have been me also being a stubborn college kid. Um, but in all honesty, I feel like the collision colleges, like these colleges that are teaching mechanics and collision and diesel, maybe diesel mechanic are more hands on and, you know, down to the point and better.
But the collision aspect that I went through was like, not what I expected. It was more or less like you show up and that's how I get paid is by you showing up. And I wasn't very appreciative of that experience, but I continued to do so and just go through college and learn as much as I could without saying, Hey, I've already learned this.
Um, but in all honesty, I feel like. , these kids coming from high school or a vo-tech school would do much better if they found a shop that would work with them and train them hands on instead of going to a college. I'm not gonna completely not college down, but I will say that a lot of these shops are leaning towards, Hey, I don't want you, cuz you've already gone to college and the college taught you wrong.
Yeah. Um, so I've brought up this story several times. I'll make it very quick cuz I know everyone's gonna just hit fast forward, the 32nd button a bunch of times. But, you know, I went to, I went to, um, technical college for diesel mechanics and my experience with that was that you basically learned a bunch of theory mm-hmm.
but it did not transfer over to real life. Yeah. And it gave you a good basis, but really that basis, we could have covered it in like a year in change. and then kind of on, in my opinion, with mechanic work anyways, is similar to yours with collision repair, which is the best fix is let's get an apprenticeship type program or something like that where, um, shops are bringing in young students, but they're not penalized for bringing in young students, right?
Mm-hmm. , because you're gonna lose efficiency somewhere. You're gonna lose money somewhere as a shop and, you know, love it, hate it, whatever. But that's, that's what business is there for as a, as a person who has taken business classes, I'm sure you understand. Mm-hmm. , but, you know, we're here for Profit . Um, and uh, so if we could figure out that, that to me also is probably one of the best ways to go about it, is just an apprenticeship program.
Um, obviously if we could tighten up the vo-tech or tech, tech school part of it, that'd be great. Mm-hmm. , but. Education system, just as a general , I'm not, not a big fan of anyways. Um, so did you, when you came out of your college experience then, and then did you start at Andy Moore's? Uh, no. So in the time of being in college, it was probably four to six months before I graduated that Brandon Eggen Road had actually made, uh, communication with the people that he had actually knew from what used to be Abra, um, Abra, which is now Caliber Collision.
Uh, my mentor at the time was at Becca Stoltz, that is who Brandon communicated with, and basically paired me up with, with Abra. , they created a position where I would be there part-time and that wasn't their usual. It would be me going to college. And then after I left college, I would be there from probably about one or two up until closing time, which was five or six the time.
And then I would just be detailing cars, which is fine. I enjoyed detailing. That's basically where everybody starts at, is either detailing or, you know, front office work, whatever. Cool. , I enjoyed it. Um, but when I was paired with Becca, I was also paired with, um, trying to remember her name. There was another lady who was super nice.
They were the icar, uh, chairmen here in Indianapolis. Um, I just can't remember her name. . Uh, but it's okay. You're on the spot. Yeah. . Um, but. At that point I had become a detailer. And then nine months after that I became an estimator. Like they promoted me that quickly. So I didn't start at Andy anymore. No, I have been to Abra, then turned into Caliber Collision and then I was at a mom and pop shop for probably a little under a year.
I was fired from Caliber due to Covid reasons, even though they say they weren't gonna fire anybody, but we won't get into that. Hmm. Um, so then I went to a mom and pop shop and I was basically managing that facility a little bit as well as a diesel mechanic facility that was attached to it. So I was doing that.
Oh, wow. Yeah, I did a lot . Um, and then after that I then began my job with Andy Moore, and I have been with them for two years now. Nice. Um, just so we don't skip over, you know, a pivotal point, um, in your story, but, well, what I think is a pivotal point, maybe, maybe it's not for you, but, um, speaking of Brandon, you got a pretty amazing gift, um, that, you know, from what I understand of it, Brandon kind of led the charge on it and, um, got some people together and, um, got some money together and presented something to you at a, um, convention of, of some sort.
Would you mind just kind of like walking through, you know, the, the days leading up to that, how that whole thing might have come around, what you knew, what you didn't know, and then like kind of receiving that. At the case of when I was in college, Brandon was emailing me and said, Hey, I might have an opportunity for you.
Um, but I wanna talk it over with the other chair people or board members in ICAR and the Collision Repair Education Foundation. And we had actually met up at the Skills USA Nationals competition, I believe in 2015 or 2016, and they were like, Hey, we wanna have you talk at the ICAR conference. And they were like, you're gonna be the youngest person who's ever been there.
You're gonna be speaking in front of thousands of people. Are you comfortable? Is, is this gonna be okay? Well, we'll pay for everything for you to get there and everything else. And I was like, I, I gotta step out of my comfort zone like I'm not a people person even though I'm an estimator. . Uh, but I definitely gotta step outta my comfort zone and take the opportunity.
So I wasn't gonna say no . I was like, okay, yes, I'll do this. And me being me in high school, I also took literature classes, so I was like, I've prepared for this. It's okay. It's, it's no big deal. I can get through it . So, um, at that point they're like, okay, yeah, we got it approved. You're gonna get on this flight, you're gonna go to San Diego, California.
You're gonna speak in front of all these people. You're gonna be there for the weekend. You know, just, just be ready to mingle with a lot of people and get to know these people. I was like, okay, that's fine. , um, , you know, and you're on the inside, you're just like dying. You're like, I don't want, did I meet you already or have I not met you?
I was like shaking people's hands and I'm like, I think I met you yesterday. But it was all just blurry. And I'm just like, I'm sure I know these people. And I was like, I met the, um, the board members of icar, which was awesome because who gets to do that every day? ? Um, yeah. But when I was there, they're like, okay, we have a special guest speaker.
And they introduced me, like Brandon introduced me. I was up there and I had a, had my speech, um, had a whole thing planned out, written. And I had originally actually like practiced on the stage while they were getting the stage ready before everybody was open into the, the guest hall for dinner. And, um, I practiced.
I felt fine. Then when the time came, like I got a little jittery, of course, like I kind of am now . Um, but when I was up there, I was talking and I had, sorry about that, . Um, I have dogs, , but yes, it's, it's, and people have animals, it's fine. Um, so while I was talking up there, I was fine. I got jittery and when it came down to it, I finally like, got done talking.
I was like, well that wasn't too bad. But then everybody like stood up and started like clapping and I had a standing ovation. I was like, I'm kind of embarrassed, but I'm enjoying it. . At that point, Brandon had actually had, I believe her name was Melissa. Don't hate me if I'm wrong, . Um, but it was another lady, a part of the board members in the Collision Prayer Education Foundation, and he had told her to go ahead and give me this eraser.
and then they started further talking about my depth as a college student, not really implying that it was mine, but they were talking about it and saying, Hey, this is what these college students usually go for. And it's, it's a little hectic. Um, the starting cost of the college program that I was in was $39,000.
It was insane for what it was. And by the time it was all done, I think it was like after all my scholarships and everything, probably, I don't know, give or take, probably 12 or 15 grand left over. And they had all the numbers written up on this dry erase board. And Brandon's like, all right, Melissa, go ahead and give Destiny the eraser.
Destiny. I want you to look at these numbers and I want you to erase them. I was like, what ? He's like, yeah, I want you to erase them. . And then after I erased him, he's like, and that is your debt. Your debt is gone. We are taking the scholarship that we gave you and we were completely throwing it into your tuition and taking it away from you.
Your tuition is completely expunged. And at that point, it was, it was not registering correctly that I was like, are you sure about that ? But like, is this a trick I had actually, um, when everything was said and done, I walked out and I was on the balcony outside talking to my mom. I called her. I was like, mom.
She's like, what? How'd everything go? I said, I don't have any more tuition. She said, what? I said, Brendan just told me that they erased my tuition, like I don't have to pay it anymore. And like at that time, it, it kicked in and I started crying. I still get teary eye over it cuz it's a, it's a big deal.
That's crazy. Hey guys, Adam from the podcast. I hope you are enjoying today's episode. Just wanted to ask you a quick favor. If the show has brought you value in some way, would you mind giving us a review and sharing the show? It really helps the show get out there. Also, if you are looking to expand the services that your shop offers and you want to do more than collision work, you should really check out our company Clarity Coat.
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If you are looking to expand your shop services, go to clarity Coat.com and fill out our Become an installer form. Alright, let's get back to the show. It is because, um, I mean for people who haven't figured it out, I mean, you're not that. Old, I mean you, what old are you right now? I'm 25. I was deemed the youngest estimator in the US at like the age of 17 or 18
Yeah. So I know a lot of people that are listening to this are pro, are probably a little bit on the older side. Mm-hmm. and they don't really quite understand the significance of this. But, um, I, I think I graduated college with 30 to $40,000 in debt, something like that. Because my college tuition I had, or whatever scholarship or money that I got, had to go towards tools.
So I had to buy 10, $12,000 worth of tools. Something like that. You know, just a, they're expensive, , anybody who's ever wrenched on. . Yeah. Anybody who's ever wrenched on anything that is such a laughable, low amount of tools to start off with wrenching, like it's stupid. I think when I finally stopped wrenching, um, I had a rough guess that I had 45 grand in tools, something like that.
And I wasn't even close to having what everything that I needed. Like I I, I, I was getting to the point where I didn't have to borrow tools from anybody anymore or anything like that. But then you start venturing into like specialty stuff. Mm-hmm. and especially having that Audi . Right. But
well, I've never had to repair the Audi because it's, it's super reliable. I'm, I, I've ne it's never left me stranded yet. So , I mean, coming from the person who's got a blown up engine, we won't talk about that . Uh, but, um, it's, uh, to, for me anyways, I, Denver, I never really had like a high interest rate.
Student loan or anything like that either. But I talk to a lot of younger people, younger than you, and some of these interest rates on these students, student loans are like freaking mm-hmm. Criminal. Like it is insane what the stu what the interest rate is on these. And it gets to a point where it gets pretty crippling to try and make a student loan payment, housing, food, all this other kind of stuff.
It just, it just becomes hard. I'm not gonna say it's impossible. I'm not gonna say, you know, handouts or anything like that. I'm just saying it's, it's, it gets to be freaking hard. My, my, my meals that I had for the first couple years of wrenching I, I should you not Destiny, it was three hot dogs for dinner and then a 89 cent um, Prama noodles.
Microwave meal. ? No, not, not Ramen noodles. I didn't, I didn't quite go there, but you know how you could buy like the dollar, um, frozen TV dinners or whatever? Yeah. Like that's what I would just buy a week or two, uh, of that. And that was my lunch. And I remember being so ecstatic when the price of those would go from 95 cents to like 87 cents.
So it meant like I could just buy like an extra one or something like that. And now was I super tight with my money? Did I go out on the weekends and drink and all this other Yeah. . Yeah, I did that. Okay. But what I'm trying to get at is like, you know, you're, you're starting off on the back foot when you're starting off with that debt.
Yes. You signed up for it. Yes. You, you took on that debt. Yes. You, you should know and no, what you're getting yourself into. Um, I'm not making any excuses for that whatsoever. . Um, but when you get something like this, it is, it is gen it, it can be generational type changing. Mm-hmm. , because you'd probably easily still be paying on that, uh, 12 or 15 grand.
Now you'd probably be paying on that until you're just a rough guess, like 30, 30 ish. My rough fiance actually, I met him in college at the same time and he didn't take the extra three, four months of, um, business management that I did, but he is still paying on his tuition, so. Okay. Um, do you mind if I ask like, roughly how long you guys think he'll have until he's paid off?
I'm just trying to paint a picture for the people listening. That's him. I would say he is 25 now. He has probably got at least another. Seven or eight years to pay on it, if not more. Yeah. Okay. So I mean, okay, so basically I'm 33, so we're talking about at my age that guy's still gonna have a couple hundred dollars every single month coming out of his mm-hmm.
um, pay to pay on that. Um, which if anybody knows anything about, um, are you, and I hope this , I hope you don't mind answering this, but are you, uh, contributing to like retirement or anything like that right now? Um, like 401K or anything like that right now, no. Uh, and that's only because like, I'm 25, I told myself I wouldn't start until like I was 30.
I know that some people are gonna be like, well, that's not good. You should start immediately. But I wanted to make sure that I was in a good company before I did that . Yep. We're not, we're not here to say good, bad or otherwise, but, um, simple, simple mathematics on that is. , the younger you start, the more compound that you mm-hmm.
make on that overtime. Right? Like, so if you were someone else that wanted to start that retirement, you can, but again, you're taking that couple, that extra couple hundred dollars out of there, which just, it just makes it really hard. And so if, now, do most people put that student, the student loan money that they were paying on towards retirement?
No, that's not what I'm getting at. I'm just saying it basically takes away that ability to do that. And then it makes like you have to just basically work longer or at the end of, um, your life when you're retired, you walk away with just so much less money than he could have. Um, it just sets up for a lot of hard things all the way up until like your 30, or let's just say early thirties Now, the only reason why I got out of my debt like I did, was because I was extremely fortunate to build up a company.
to the point where I could sell it and then I could erase that debt. And so I was lucky to be able to do that. I mean, yes, I worked hard for it and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever. But it's, it, it's just such a huge thing and um, it's such a crazy, unique, great gift. Um, and it's obviously hasn't necessarily gone to waste as far as like the collision industry is concerned because at 25 you're still in the industry, you're still doing things.
Um, so talk to me about, um, this transition Yeah. Transition from detailer to estimator. Like, what was that like for you in the first couple of months of going from, from cleaning cars to estimating, estimating repairs, uh, . So as a detailer, obviously you, you gain the knowledge of being detail oriented and, you know, you get reprimanded for missing things and not paying close enough attention.
Uh, whenever something's repaired and you're like, oh, well if you didn't cash this, that's a problem because now the car's up front and customer's called. Um, so that, having that experience before going into estimating definitely helped a bit. Um, but then like I was pretty much thrown into estimating as well, so it was also pretty chaotic.
I had somebody who was supposed to be training me the first two weeks, and it wasn't really much of like training. It was more or less like, watch what I do. Okay. That helps , and I'm, I'm not gonna say that I'm gonna knock that person at all, because that person ended up becoming my best friend. Um, and it was, , you should really throw 'em under the bus.
No, let's do it. I won't do that. . Um, she was a great person. She was, she was a phenomenal estimator. She had, um, a bit of an attitude, but she was a phenomenal estimator. She knew her stuff. Um, but I would, I would venture to say that I am more of a detailed estimator today than what she is was, Ooh, throwing smoke on a national podcast.
Alright, . It's just because, like, I keep up with my training. Um, as my instructor told me in high school, if you're not learning, you're not living. And, and this industry, it's important to continue to learn. Cause if you don't, then how, how are you knowing that you're repairing that vehicle correctly? How are you, how do you feel safe putting that customer back in their car if they have kids or anything if you don't know?
So you gotta continue to learn. What was, um, What was probably the more difficult part for you to learn about estimating when you were kind of starting off? To be completely honest, the communication, communicating with customers, telling them the ends and the outs, um, and being the bearer. Bad news, that is never fun.
But as an estimator, you're the frontline. That's your job.
You know, it's really crazy to me that a lot of service-based businesses actually just actually really any business, right? You it. A lot of people, a lot of businesses could probably change their entire customer. Um, the way customers are viewed by them, by realizing that they're a customer service business first, and then they're a collision repairer.
It's because. If you, it's amazing to me, like if you just simply talk with people and you just simply tell 'em like, Hey, this is Destiny. Listen, we fucked up. Right? Like, I'm really sorry, you can't actually say that, but like, you know, we messed up. But people will be so much more responsive to you and will be so much more okay with whatever situation is thrown at 'em.
As long as you tell them timely promptly and you just lay it out and you just, and then you take ownership of it and you say, Hey, you know what? This is our bad, like we're gonna try and do what we can to make it right, blah, blah, blah. But you get these, you get these just weird situations where people will just not talk to the customers and then drag it out for like days and just not, and then when the customer's like, why didn't you talk to me about this couple days ago?
They're like, ah, drew a Red Bull . Well, to be honest, I just didn't want talk to you, . Um, but anyways, uh, so like, are you doing primary, I'm guessing most of your primary communi communications via phone with customers, is that Yes. Is that right? Um, currently, right now I've got my customers. Um, so at Caliber it was very important to keep communication every two to three days, whether it be Tuesday or Thursday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so on, so forth.
Um, me being at Andy Moore, I communicate with my customers as a need to know basis because I explain a lot at the beginning that it's pretty much like, Hey, this is what's going on. This is what we're looking at. Here are the panels that we're going to be touching and possibly looking for, you know, additional damage.
So don't really have to communicate with them otherwise, if we have a parts delay, yes, we have a sub delay, yes. But other words, it's just like, Hey, if you've got questions or anything, I'm here. You can call, you can text, email. , but everyone would feel comfortable doing, I'm cool with it. A lot of my customers will just text me.
Yeah. Um, so being well spoken on the phone and then also being, there's the, the, you know, a skill that was really kind of difficult for me to learn is taking information and condensing it down in written format, um, as much as possible. Delivering clear, concise communication, just as in as little, little, as much as possible.
Because when you send an email to someone and it's just a wall Yep. Of text, like immediately people just go, oh, yep. Fuck. Okay, well I didn't realize I was gonna read a poem today. Um, so yeah, I'm not interested in this, and then stuff gets missed and blah, blah, blah. Like the best way. Uh, and I'm still still getting better at this or I'm still working on this, but if you can condense something to like six bullet points, man, like , you're good.
Like, hey, this is destiny, uh, your vehicle. We'll schedule for this day to get repaired. It's getting pushed back another couple of days. Here's the reason why. Let me know if you want to talk. Here's my phone number. Thank you. You're always loved and appreciated, and your dollars are well spent here. And, uh, leave a Google Review hos.
Thank you. Bye. . That sounds like my voicemails.
Um, so youngest, youngest estimator in the, in the US then, or one of one? The youngest smears was, and was this still at, um, Cal, uh, caliber? Yes. Sorry. Or was this at Andy Moore? That it was caliber, um, or Abra caliber, whatever you want. Call it . We'll just, we'll just move him into the center caliber person.
But yeah, it, it was there. Um, um, that's, I lost my train of thought. on. No, it's perfectly fine. So, um, I don't know how, what's been, what's been kind of your experiences as being, I, I know you probably get asked this all the time, but like, what's your experiences in being a female in, in the collision industry?
Anything that you would like to see changed or talk about or anything like that? Um, few bullet points here to keep it simple. Sweet. Um, without dragging it out, uh, , no. See, you do want to drag it on because on a podcast, that's, that's the format to do it, baby. Oh, sorry. Not baby in the derogatory term, but like, in the general term.
So, as a female in the industry to begin with, it is not easy. Uh, When I first started, I was hit with a lot of, wait, you're looking at my vehicle, you're writing the estimate. Do you even know what you're talking about? Do you know what you're looking at? Mm-hmm. And at that point, I combated it and was like, okay, let's go out to your car.
I'm gonna show you what this, this, and this is, and we're gonna conversate about this. And at that point they're just like, oh, you know, you're stuff. I was like, yeah, . It's what I've been doing. Um, being that that's just like one of like everyday issues and it's pretty much old news for me and I instantly know how to combat it now.
And you know, customers get over it and they're like, okay, so I, I actually trust you. Uh, being a car enthusiast in general also helps that, cuz we get a lot of cars that'll come in. They're like, I don't know if I want my vehicle here. And I'm just like, look, one car enthusiast to another, I'm gonna make sure that this is spot on exactly the way you want it.
And that's how it goes. . So I don't get much problems out of that anymore. Speaking in the terms of actually being in the body shop and working around a bunch of men, it gets iffy sometimes, and it'll probably always be like that because men are men. We, we know what men are, you know, we know what attracts them, what catches their attention.
Um, so it's pretty much like, ha, I know it's on your mind, but keep it to yourself, . Um, and I'm gonna walk away from that comment. I'm gonna act like I didn't hear it. Sometimes, um, I just play along with it because me being a tomboy, I'm like, I just act like one of the guys. So they're pretty much just used to it at this point, and they know that they can shoot around and make dumb comments as long as they're not like far fetched and like harassment almost.
Um, yeah, but they know what they can and cannot get away with, cuz sometimes they'll just be like, okay, you're going too far. I'm going to probably hurt you if you continue that sentence,
But that's, I I don't really get a whole lot of issues being in this industry as a female anymore. Things have kind of gotten better in the past few years. There was a, there's a gala had on an earlier podcast and I'm, I'm, I'm forgetting which one it was, so I apologize, um, to, if she may be listening. But, um, one of the things that she commented on was that, you know, once, once she kind of proved herself, which I should use that term in the way that, and I think, I think in a lot of ways, and, um, I'm not saying this is the same, but I think in a lot of ways like.
any guy that comes into a job site, like a construction site or a mechanic shop or something like that, there's a level that the, that guy has to go through in order to prove himself to that crew of people, right? Like he has to get initiated or, you know, kind of that type of thing. So I think there's always a level of that no matter what, when it comes to guys, anyways, I'm not gonna speak to if there was a female dominated place and a female came into it, if she would have to do the same thing, just speaking strictly from a guy thing, now cannot comment on whether or not women have to do more or less than to be considered one of the guys in that same workplace.
However, in this particular case, what she had said was that once she had kind of proved herself, you know, and, and things were clicking along and everything like that, that the guys in the shop would actually just straight up look out, look after, like if there was something that was. Amiss or she was getting a little bit more blamed than what she should have or whatever.
They would all step up and be like, n no, this, this is not gonna happen. Um, have you kind of experienced something similar to that as well? I would definitely say so. Um, not necessarily at prior locations. With the location I'm at now, um, which I will give a solid like personal quote that I've actually dealt with.
Um, showing the guys that I'm here to not only be there for the customer and make money for myself, but also make sure that they're getting their paychecks created by, you know, properly written estimates. They see that I'm there for them and not just myself and they will stand up for what is and is not right and just make sure that obviously we're not getting blamed for much or, you know, just make sure that both of us, whether it be myself or the technician has our.
PS crossed and our eyes dotted. Um, and my quote to kind of stand behind on that one is the fact of like, you are only as good as the team that you are surrounded by. If your team is not supporting you, if they're not being there for you, if they're not helping you learn, they're not a team and that's not where you belong.
You belong where they are going to support you and push you to grow and become a better person. Yeah. Um, one last kind of just personal story, but um, I actually had a service advisor that was a female in the, in the semi diesel truck industry. That's difficult. , if you want to talk about some of the nastiest people to work with, it's fucking truck drivers.
Mm-hmm. like, and. . I never, I was never privy to some of these phone calls. Right. But the amount, the mountain of shit she would have to go through to answer a phone call and then she would just constantly get, yeah, can you just hand me over to a guy? Yeah. Can you just, can you just hand me over to like your manager, uh, I don't need to talk to the secretary, or whatever.
And it just, and I would, I would not say that she was an expert, right? Like she, she didn't have a lot of knowledge when it came to like diesel, but she really did try. She, she definitely gave it her best shot and she really did try to get the proper amount of information that was needed for us to kind of do our basic job.
Which, to be honest with you, trying to diagnose something over a phone in the first place is damn near. Like, it's super difficult. Anyways, that's, that is a learned mm-hmm. skill that takes a long freaking time to do. So even guides are gonna struggle with that. But man, then you have the pressure. Like you just have this expectation, or sorry, stipulation of being a female.
As soon as she picks up the phone and then she starts asking questions, and then the truck driver gets annoying and he is like, yeah, can you just hand me off to your manager because you're probably gonna fuck this up anyways. Yep. And oh God, it was br. It was brutal. And so where I live, South Dakota, well, in Indianapolis, you guys would probably get this too, but you know, you sometimes you have to go out on calls and unfreeze trucks, right?
Mm-hmm. , you have to unge 'em. And you'd get out there and because the truck driver would say the wrong engine model or something like that, you'd take the wrong filters out there. And then that he would just immediately blame the service advisor. And then I would be like, I would just look at him and say, no, dude.
Like I was literally right there when she took this info down. You told her the wrong information. So it's your dumb ass. That's the reason why you're gonna stay, stay on the side of the road for another hour. And I want to hear about it like, , and then you would just kind of sometimes purposely let a little air into the system, let it take a little bit longer to bleed, blah, blah, blah.
Like just unnecessary, right? Just, but unfortunately, that's a reality of life right now. And that doesn't mean it's right or wrong. Well, it doesn't mean it's right. It just means that it's where we're at. I actually have a similar situation closing going on right now with that whole scenario and like, yes.
Oh, really? , it's, it's been hectic. And I'm just like, okay. So you need to constantly repeat yourself to my manager and constantly say, well, I want this done, blah, blah, blah, because I'm incompetent because this is my first day on the job. And I'm just like, I, I can't deal with that because I've done my everything to become who I am and constantly my skills.
So when somebody's like, well, I need to talk to your manager. I mean, it's. It's not my manager's job to babysit me, it's my manager's job to expect me to do the right thing. And that's what I'm trying to do. And you're not listening. So that becomes an issue.
I don't know. I mean, you guys are probably not in this situation, but one of the businesses that I own, we ran into a small problem where on a personal level, the two guys that were gonna be dealing with the customer did not have a great relationship with this person. Right? And thankfully, we were in a position to where this guy was calling and texting me a bunch and was wanting services done and everything like that.
And I could tell that the guys were not on board through, right? And so I just messaged with the guy and said, Hey man, listen, I don't think we're gonna be able to serve you. I don't think this is a good fit for us. Here's a couple of recommendations for you, but we're not gonna be able to do this for you.
And sent him on his way. He wasn't happy about it. There was a lot of things I got called and blah, blah, blah. But you know, there is a ti there's a point in time where you have to look at a situation like that and be like, you know what? It's just not worth it. It's, it's just, it just isn't. Mm-hmm. like, and I'm not saying that your manager, whoever should do these things, but there are just times where, you know, you just gotta look at a situation and be like, you know what?
You can just go down the road like, it's fine. We're, we're gonna do just fine without you. My coworker and I have actually gone through a lot of that here recently. Um, and the collision industry as a whole has really grasped the concept that, um, I know you had mentioned earlier that, you know, we need to look at things as if we're customer service first, collision set center second, um, that we're overworked right now.
We are overworked, we're overbooked, um, but we also don't have to deal with customer hospitality. , we are here for one thing, and that's to fix the vehicle the right way. So if the customer doesn't trust us to do so, and they're being hostile and combative and you know, not grasping the concept. I personally, I feel like I'm a really good estimator and I have an amazing coworker that does just as well as I do at estimating, and we're good at communication and everything.
So if a customer's not willing to work with us and you know, just relax for a second and take down what we have to say and just think about it, then it's pretty much like, I don't have to work with you. I do not have to put up with that type of hostility. Um, and I get it's not worth it. We're already doing so much and we're trying our best, and if they can't understand that, then we're not the right place for you and we lose business.
But in today's industry, right now, it's not the case of losing business. It's the case of. creating partnerships with these customers that'll last a lifetime because we're here for them. Yep. Yeah. I don't think, um, don't, people shouldn't get confused. I don't mean this specifically you, but people shouldn't get confused.
That customer service means Ben, like bending to the will. Mm-hmm. of a customer. Right. Every single one of us has dealt with just an mm-hmm. asshole on the phone. Right? And, uh, I don't care how nice of an establishment in any business that you have, you're going to d you're going to deal with people that are just unrealistic.
They're having a bad day. You happen to be the person that they're gonna take it out on whatever it means. That does not mean you have to sit there and take it. Now, that doesn't mean you get to get into a shouting natural zone. Absolutely not. And like, tell 'em to screw off or anything like that. You can just gently say, you can just kind of have a long pause on the phone.
and you can say, you know what? I don't think this is gonna, I don't think we're a good fit. I think, uh, here, here's a couple of other numbers, but we're gonna push your, we will tow your car to wherever you needed to, but as of right now, we're not gonna fix it. And they're gonna be pissed. They're gonna be, but they were already gonna be pissed anyway.
So like, what's at the end of the day, what's the difference? Right. Um, you know, entitlement, and there's a lot of that going on right now. entitlement goes across all age ranges. Just, just put that in your pipes. Okay. Dealt with a lot of entitled 50 year olds in my life. Okay? Um, it, it goes all the way from the twenties all the way to the sixties and seventies.
Okay? So, but you, you do your best to deliver great experience, great customer service. And you know what? Some, some people are not gonna pick up on that and that's fine. You just send 'em down to the next, next shop and say, hope you have a great day, and figure out whatever is stuck in your bum. Sorry. Um, yes.
Destiny, uh, if you wanted some people to follow along with what you're doing or people wanted to, if there was a younger female that was wanting to talk with you and see how, I don't know, life is and catch up, see what she can do in the industry or what, whatever it might be. Where, where can people find you?
Where can people contact you? Uh, typically I would say probably Instagram. Um, my account on Facebook is usually private, but if they can find me, it would be underneath Destiny Faye, f a y e. Um, my Instagram would be candy spelled with two E 13 T as in Tom underscore. VT would, maybe I would have to like, jeez,
It's my car. Instagram. Dang. I know. I couldn't have made that more complicated.
I have to like what it, yeah, so it's candy with two E, period. V as in Victor, underscore 13, T as in Tom. I, okay. That's a little bit better. . All right guys, go give her a follow on Instagram. Um, if you are a young female looking to get into the industry, I feel like Destiny's probably got some answers for you.
Go ahead and hit her up there and, uh, ask her some questions. She seems like a pretty open person and, uh, willing to help out anybody if they have questions. So, destiny, thank you for coming on today's episode. Really do appreciate it, and I hope you have a great story. Absolutely. Thanks for inviting me. I greatly appreciate.
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