GREASING THE WHEELS

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HIGH PERFORMANCE AND INDUSTRY RECOGNITION

Today, as an MSO with serious time in the industry, Wong continues to be energetic and engaged in his businesses. And although he hits obstacles, he finds solutions and workarounds with the same dogged determination he had as a kid who was willing to work for free just to get his car fixed.

“The biggest obstacle I have to overcome, and it’s probably true in any industry, is going to be people,” he notes.

And yet … “I think I’m super blessed where I don’t have retention problems. I don’t have employee problems or technician problems. Others do, but I don’t have them.”

He does give himself just a bit of credit in the area of employee retention, saying, “If the transparency isn’t there in the leadership, it’s hard to have good people. Oftentimes, how well the operators do is a reflection on the owner of the company.”

Putting it all in big-picture perspective, he adds, “We’re fixing cars and putting them back on the road. Families and kids are using these cars. Without transparency, the business won’t work.”

Another way Wong addresses the challenge of finding and keeping good people is by recognizing generational differences.

“We hired 10 employees recently, and they’re all about 26 years old,” he states. “You can’t talk to people in their 20s like you can people in their 40s.” The 20-somethings “need constant motivation and vision, and they have to want to do it more than you do for it to happen. Generations are different.”