Story & Lesson Highlights with Luke Maddox of North East

We recently had the chance to connect with Luke Maddox and have shared our conversation below.

Good morning Luke, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What do you think is misunderstood about your business? 
What I often think is misunderstood about the repair business, is that it’s all about money. I think most people have it in their minds that mechanics are out there to rip them off. When the reality is, mechanics become mechanics because we love to solve problems AND help people. The expense associated with our trade is ever growing. It is a technically demanding career with many parallel unforeseen issues. We will often, behind the scenes, either work for free, or eat the cost of a repair, because most of us value our customers. Service advisors and managers are a different story : )

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello readers, my name is Luke. I am a self taught mechanic that runs a small repair business out of my garage. I specialize in tricky electrical and mechanical issues. You may have heard the term “diagnostics” thrown around when taking your car to your local shop or dealer. I specialize in “diagnosing” hard to find issues with your car, truck, SUV, or even RV.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My grandfather. At an early age, maybe 6 or 7. I believed my grandfather could see an aptitude in me that I couldn’t see in myself. He could see that I had an understanding of how things work. How they fit together, and how to improve upon them. And, it would take many years before that was something I recognized in myself and embraced. And once I was able to do so, it gave me a lot of direction in life.

What fear has held you back the most in your life?
I think most people have a fear of embarrassment, or seeming unintelligent to others. I know that I have often struggled with this. And that fear has prevented me from a lot of passions I’ve wanted to pursue. I think over time, I’ve been able to let that go. Just focus on doing what I believe to be the best thing for myself. People will always judge or make comments or want to put you down. No matter what you’re doing. So I think for myself, I’ve tried to re-frame my mindset, and put myself out there regardless. And it has paid off in a lot of ways.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
I think in the automotive repair industry, the industry itself has put the blinders on to how it treats its technicians. Automotive technicians are some of the hardest working people, with some of the worst pay. Most people wouldn’t know that auto technicians aren’t payed by the hour. and most of the aren’t guaranteed a certain amount of pay. Which means a technician can work a 60 hour work week, and only make 7 hours of pay. You’re not going to be making your rent or feeding a family with that. Yet, our industry has done almost nothing to correct this, and continues to act like this is totally fine, normal.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. Have you ever gotten what you wanted, and found it did not satisfy you?
This has happened to me many times. It’s one of the main reasons I went to work for myself. I think there are a lot of people out there that have a lot of their own value and self worth tied to their employment. I know its true for me at least. I would often take on a new role, or position with a company and think “this is it, this will make me happy”. But it never made me happy. As I worked my way through my career to bigger projects and more money, I always found myself dissatisfied. The lesson I found in that is, unless it is my own project, my own vision, in a way that I see fit, there’s no title or pay check that will make me whole.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maddox_mechanic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@aiyogarage