Just ONE Thing
From Victims to Victors: Transforming Mindsets in Your Auto Repair Shop
Episode 215
with Rick White, 180BIZ
Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening. My name is Rick White from 180BIZ. We are a coaching and training company for the independent auto repair industry, and this is my Just ONE Thing.
What are we talking about today? We're talking about VICTIMS. And it's funny—when we start thinking about victims, typically, we think about, “Oh, the consumer feels like they're a victim and taken advantage of,” and everything like that. And that happens, and usually it's due to a lack of communication.
But here's what I want to step back and talk to you about. There is a bigger victim going on right now—that's happening right now—and that's YOU.
What do I mean by that? Well, I’ve got three points I want to make today, okay?
First of all, I need you to understand that in life, right? It's like a story. You're writing a story about how your life is going. Every day is a new page. Every year is a new chapter. That's the way it is, right?
So here’s what’s going on. When you're writing the story, there's only four roles that you can play: victim, villain, hero, guide. That's it. Okay?
Now, what I want you to understand is that a lot of us, at different times in our lives, we get stuck in victim mode, okay? And today, what I want to talk to you about is what creates the victim mentality and what to do about it.
Okay, so first thing: we all feel like victims sometimes. Why? Because things happen to us that we wish wouldn't, and we don't feel a sense of control—which is kind of an illusion, right? But because of that, we start to feel like a victim. Things are happening to you, to me.
So victimhood—feeling like a victim—is natural, and it happens to all of us.
Here’s what I want you to remember, though: it's a choice to stay there. Please write that down. It’s a choice to stay in victimhood.
But I want you to understand that being a victim and staying there—it’s like you're creating a prison. Okay? And I'm going to tell you what creates the prison.
The first thing that creates the prison bars, right? That’s the prison bars—those are the words you use. Your words create your prison.
What do I mean by that?
"Rick, Rick, I can't find any good help. There’s no good help out there."
"You know, this is just happening to me. There’s nothing I can do about it."
What else is a good one?
"I can’t..."
Right? I have—in fact, I have a really cool document that I just created about being a victim and how to not only see it in yourself, but see it in others as well—your team, your family, everybody. If you'd like that, shoot me a quick email: [email protected]. I will send that to you absolutely free—no charge, no nothing, right?
But I want you to understand: the words that you say to yourself—"I can't," "It never," "It always," "Everybody"—these are all things that create the bars that you're behind. Because what happens is when you finally start to think about doing something different, your subconscious brings back all the "I can'ts" that you've said to yourself, and it just kicks you. It kicks you in the butt. Right?
It gets you to stop doing it. It gets you to think, “I can’t do it.” And that’s not true. Okay?
But here's the other part. So we got the prison bars. But what about the door? You know what the prison door is? You know what locks you in?
It’s the story you tell yourself. The story you tell yourself that locks you into that prison.
So what do we do with this?
Number one: First thing you gotta do is recognize the victim mentality. You gotta be able to recognize it. And the easiest way to do that is listen to the language you’re using.
Once you recognize that you're using victim words, you can reframe them. That is what I recommend doing.
So when someone says, “I can't find good help,” this is what I want you to do: I want you to step back, and I want you to start being aware of your victim wording—right? The victim language. Then I want you to reframe it.
"I can't find good help"—what can you do?
It’s not wrong. Sometimes we all feel like victims. We all feel like things have been—either we've been taken advantage of or something didn't go our way, and we really feel upset about it. That’s normal. Staying there and creating a story around it is disempowering.
So what I want you to do is reframe it.
What can I do?
I can look and see where technicians—what their problems are, what are they struggling with. I can figure out how to write an ad better. I can figure out how can I offer something that nobody else does. How can I find a good recruiter that will do the work for me—or a lot of the work for me—and save me a bunch of time?
There’s so many things we can do. But when you're behind those bars with that door shut, there’s no possibilities inside there. Every possibility you want is on the other side of them bars.
So what I need you to do:
1. Recognize your victim language.
2. Change the story.
You know, I have this really cool thing. Brenda and I, years ago—one of the first things we ever went to with our business—we went to a copywriting class. One of the most powerful exercises they did was: he said, “I want you to tell us your life story as a tragedy.” But he said, “The only rule is: everything’s got to be the truth.”
So we did that. Ten minutes. Wrote it up. Felt like bleh when I finished with it. Right? Both Brenda and I.
Then he said, “Okay, great. Now we want you to write it as a triumph.” Right? “We want you to write it as a win, like you overcame.” But again—life story—everything’s got to be true.
This is everything right here.
Benji, you’re dead on, man. Victim mindset. Stinkin’ thinkin’, dude. All you do—because when you're in that, when you're stuck in prison—all you're doing is staring at the bars. All you're doing is staring at the problem.
This has got to stop.
But here's the really cool thing I want you to understand. There’s three things to do:
Number one—and please share this video. Please also: Shop Owners Roundtable, second Thursday of every month, 7 PM. And we have our Pocket Business Genius every month. If you'd like to get the videos, the webinar library, as well as a live webinar every month, it’s there.
But let’s step back and talk about the three things you’re going to do:
1. You’re going to recognize the language and reframe it.
2. You’re going to recognize the story you're telling yourself and you're going to turn it around. How are you going to use this situation, this issue, this wrong, this whatever it is—how are you going to use it to grow through it?
3. And here’s the third thing I want you to understand. It’s ten of the best words: "If it is to be, it is up to me."
You’ve got to recognize that if you’re the cause, you’re the cure.
So:
- Your words are the prison bars.
- The story is the prison door.
- Break free and create something absolutely amazing.
Okay, we were not meant to live small. Just get out there. Start working it. And you know something? You're going to be so pleased at the end of what has happened.
Everybody, thank you so much. I appreciate you being here. I wish you all a great week. Go make some money. I’ll see you all next week.
Take care. Bye-bye.
