Building a Community of Auto Shop Owners: The Impact of ASOG on the Industry with Scott Pelava

The Auto Repair Marketing Podcast features Scott Pelava, founder of the Auto Shop Owners Group (ASOG), who shares his story of how he started the group to help shop owners connect and share their experiences. Scott talks about the challenges he faced when he first started ASOG and how the group quickly grew to almost 7,000 members. He also shares a powerful story about how ASOG saved a shop owner's life. The episode highlights the importance of community and collaboration in the auto repair industry and the impact that ASOG has had on shop owners and their communities.Thank you to our friends at RepairPal for providing this episode. RepairPal’s Certified Network of shops are trusted by millions of customers each month. Learn more at RepairPal.com/shops.Scott's Story and the Founding of ASOG (00:00:53 - 00:07:21) Scott shares his story of starting his own auto shop and struggling to make money. He then talks about how he founded the Auto Shop Owners Group (ASOG) after seeking help from other technicians on Facebook.Creating ASOG (00:08:25) Scott shares how he founded ASOG to connect shop owners and help them with technical aspects of business ownership.Managing ASOG (00:11:56) Scott talks about how he has managed to keep up with the changes in managing a Facebook group with the help of his team of moderators.Raising Professionalism (00:14:13) The group aims to raise the professionalism of the industry by maintaining a level of decorum and changing the industry for professionals.ASOG saves a life (00:16:23) Scott shares a story of how ASOG saved a member's life who was about to commit suicide.Impact of small businesses (00:20:26) Brian and Kim discuss the impact of small businesses on families, employees, and the community.ASOG scholarships (00:24:04) Scott talks about how ASOG started sending shop owners to training events and offering scholarships.Pre-registration (00:24:47) Scott talks about how they started doing pre-registration for their events to avoid leaving people foot in the bill for anticipated amounts.Scholarship for a shop owner in need (00:25:34) Scott talks about how they used the extra money from their event to create a scholarship for a shop owner in need, the Bunard family.ASOG Mastermind (00:29:13) Scott talks about how the ASOG Mastermind started as a group of people who wanted to do a mastermind, and how it evolved into a mentoring type thing with a leadership team made up of experienced shop owners.Feeling Defeated (00:32:52) Scott and Brian discuss their experience in a coaching group and how they felt defeated when they saw other agencies working with big companies like Coca-Cola and Walmart.Learning to Run a Business (00:34:06) Brian talks about how he learned to run his business like a business and the importance of coaching and relationships with other business owners.ASOG and Scholarship Program (00:37:11) Scott talks about how to get involved with ASOG through their Facebook page and website, as well as their scholarship program and upcoming dinner event.<br/>ResourcesWebsite - asog.siteFB group - https://www.facebook.com/group....s/AutoShopOwnersGrou group - https://www.facebook.com/group....s/StartinganAutoRepa <br/>How To Get In Touch with Shop Marketing ProsGroup - Auto Repair Marketing Mastermind