Author: sebsautomotivation

Before migrating to Australia in 1985 from Poland as a 7 year old boy I always had a passion for motor cars, probably take after my late father who was involved in car rally’s driving Fiat’s. Still remember my father sending me a photo of a Porsche 911 Carrera as we didn’t have any sports cars in our country in that era, this was my first motivation that I wanted to be involved in the car industry in what ever way I could.

Once we arrived into Australia I saw an influx of numerous cars and models, most of which were Holden’s and Ford’s. Seeing a Sports car like a Porsche or Ferrari was a privilege as they were rare to see, but seeing one gave be goosebumps and a sense of happiness.

How I started my Journey? As we came with nothing it meant at a young age had to learn to hustle, so at the age of 13 years old I decided to start washing cars. Yep and all I had was a BMX bike, 20m rolled up hose, bucket, sponge and small vacuum. So every Saturday and Sunday I’d ride to a small town in Adelaide called McLaren Vale where there were plenty of businesses on the main street stretching approx 2kms, there I’d charge $5 per car to have washed and vacuumed. Soon the word spread and my weekends were full enjoying what I loved! This gave me enough money for a future car and more equipment.

My next step was to get my foot in the door into a Car Dealership and so every Saturday I got a gig at our local Ford Dealership washing cars for FREE! Some may ask why, well it gave me happiness and later would land me a payed Job! The Sales Manager couldn’t believe for 1. I was doing it for FREE and 2. How motivated and driven I was just washing cars.

My journey halted for a while as my father wanted me to concentrate on schooling and as both my parents were paying their hard earned dollars for a private school they wanted me to finish and on go to University. So my weekends became more of homework and less of freedom, this gave me more motivation to spend more hours afterschool to finish my homework so that weekends became my time again.

Weekends became my time again, as I didn’t have a licence yet I decided that I’d travel on buses into the City dressed in a suit carrying a brief case of nothing. I’d go with my best mate to different car dealerships and just look at cars, this was a dream for me! I knew from that point that I wanted to work in that environment not knowing the lifestyle that would come with it later in my career.

Finally when I was 16 I got my first car, a 1976 Ford Escort Panel Van so that i could put my cleaning stock in the back and travel around. This was exciting as after school I’d visit local Real Estate agents and clean their cars as they were time poor, I’d charge $15 per car and would normally do 5-6 cars per night. Soon word got around and I was booked out for weeks.

Soon Year 12 came around and so did exams, my grades and points were enough to go to University something that I didn’t want to do but my father did. The day came when I had to tell my parents that I had no interest going to Uni but instead wanted to wash cars, this was a quick learning lesson in life as it was time to hit the real world and reality!

For about 2 weeks I’d thought about my decision and was it the right one but asking my mum for advise only words that came from her were “follow your dreams and enjoy your journey” in what ever you do. So I did, made my first resume which was half a page long but I did have experience cleaning cars. On a Monday morning my best mate and I went to out local employment office and applied hand outs while we looked for jobs, in which I seen a job for a yard hand at the local Nissan Dealership. So I picked up the phone and called from the employment office, and funny enough the Sales Manager who was in charge at Nissan was my mentor at Ford. Within 3 hours I started washing cars. This was the start of my life in the Auto Industry in Australia.

The next 12 months I spent giving all I had to make sure I was the best at cleaning cars, it gave me happiness and it didn’t feel like a job! The next step from washing cars was to become a detailer, this was more involved, including shampooing seats and carpets, buffing and painting chassis. So I asked If I could have a car for 2 days to show them what I could do, sure enough they were impressed but at the time there were no positions available for a detailer. Being patient paid off, within 6 months a position became available and the DP ( Dealer Principal ) asked if I would accept, of course I said “YES”. The next 12 months was great, I got to drive nice cars and one of which was the Nissan 200SX and 300ZX. The next stage was about to embark!

Meeting my wife was a life changer in a short period of time, finding out that I was going to be a father meant now I’d had to find more income to support the 3 of us. Living almost an hour away and living apart meant long hours apart and travelling a lot and here is the next part of my journey and things falling into place. The Dealer Principal knew the situation and asked if I’d be happy to run the detailing side of a new dealership that was being built and was closer to my wife, of course I said YES! Unfortunately this was short lived and within a few weeks I quit, this was due to a new DP arriving and making people feeling like they are nothing. This was a lesson learnt and was about to change my life for the better once again. Within a few hours word had got around that I had walked out and received a phone call from a local Holden dealership asking if I’d be interested in a detailing position. Of course I said YES! This is where I met my new and to this day current mentor Suresh Millar. Suresh knew how to empower his Team and make them grow.

Soon my wife and I were expecting another child in which wanted to provide a home and the best for our children, this meant needing more income so out of respect I approached Suresh and advised that I’d be looking for another job with more money. This is where an opportunity would arise and a suggestion was made if I’d be interested in becoming a Service Advisor if a position became available in the future. So during the week I’d be a detailer and on Saturday’s I’d put on a suit and tie and become a Service Advisor for the next 12months. As the motor industry became more diversified and was growing at a rapid rate so did the company I worked for, this then gave me an opportunity to become a full time Service Advisor. This position not only gave me experience but gave me the confidence to speak with people I’d never met. Within a couple of years I was asked to run the Night Shift Service and became a Manager. Challenge Accepted!

I was about to learn quickly that being a Manager was not telling people what to do but instead empowering the Team that I was in charge of, making sure they were looked after. This not only grew me but also my Team, they saw me mopping floors so that they could go home on time and saw us together at the same level! 2 years later I wanted to become a Service Manager, but no positions were available and felt like I was becoming stagnant in my life and so soon another lesson in life would come.

An opportunity came about to run a Satellite Dealership as a Service Manager, to me this was a large step and would need to answer to Senior Management and so the next 12 months was extremely challenging and a hard lesson to learn. Meeting a new team and them not knowing me was a challenge, they looked at me as a threat or maybe as a prey. Although we were making profits on a monthly basis my bottom line looked great but my Team was falling apart and technicians were leaving. Thinking I had experience was an understatement as different places have different cultures, I became a prey which took my focus of what I was there to achieve. Adding to this was a huge shock that was about to come into my life and that was loosing my mother to Cancer. Not only my mindset was in the wrong space but my life started to take a turn of greed, started to lose my focus, lose my Team and in my eyes the bottom line in which fear of losing my job and everything else. During this whole period still had my mentor all the way and who helped to keep me focused along my grieving period. Then things fall apart.

On a weekday I was called into the Directors office and within a few minutes my life was about to change. The words of you no longer have a job makes you feel worthless and unwanted, this is where I learnt you can be loyal to a company and win awards but some unfortunately treat you as a number and that’s how I felt. Driving home to my wife after being terminated put me in a situation that I haven’t been in before, asking the question why me? But things always seem to fall into place, on the way back home I received a call from a customer who said he was wanting to book his car in for a service, after I told him that I was just terminated he asked if I wanted to work in the IT Industry, in which I said YES with no hesitation.

The next 4 years I spent working in IT where I met new people and made new friends, during these 4 years I was at care free and just enjoyed life where I started to reset myself. Here I met another great mentor Steve Laidlaw who gave me motivation in life to keep going and that things will always be tough but its how you take them along the way is how you will make it in life! I became hungry again and wanted to chase the money ( this would be another life lesson later in my career ) so I thought I’d drive mining dump trucks, not sure why but wanted to try something different. Deep down I was missing the car industry lifestyle and while applying for my dump truck job my former mentor Suresh asked if I wanted to get into the dealership life again. This would be working with trucks as a Branch Service Manager for Isuzu, but this time I was in control and took the opportunity by the balls!

I was more confident and had time to reset in which I learnt a few more lessons in life. It made me a different person and became guarded in life to strangers, Suresh gave me a challenge to overturn a Service Department that was losing money and the Team had no motivation at all. First time in my life I made a plan and how I was going to execute the end, I decided to give it all I could into this position and unfortunately sacrificed my family time this time after I promised my wife and children that the new position would be for the better. In my eyes everything went to plan, earning more money that I’d ever before and living a half decent lavish lifestyle. I had a vision in my head of what I wanted to become and how I was going to execute/achieve it. Next 2 years I spent making plans and investing in myself to take the next step of becoming a General Manager for the dealership.

The opportunity came of becoming a GM and for the next 3 years again I put my soul into making my plan work, but great responsibility came with great challenges. This gave a look into how a dealership works behind the scenes, gave me the opportunity to experiment with how to market not only the brand I was working for (Isuzu) but also at the same time making sure each department was growing and trying to keep everyone happy. At the end of my 3 year term I was asked to join our mothership dealership HQ, this was going to be a step out of my comfort zone which was SELLING! and although everyone during my whole life said that I should be selling I never thought about even attempting it. So we come to the last 2 years that are to what is now, being a Sales Manager and Mentor to others around me and teaching them what I have learnt in the last 30 years in the Car Industry.

The Dealership life is not for everyone but it’s a rewarding one in many ways and that has given me the opportunity to travel around the world, meet new people but most importantly doing what I love.