You're doing highly skilled work, working harder than the general repair shop down the street — and making less money per hour. In this episode, Richard interviews Kevin to break down exactly why performance, restoration, and custom fabrication shops struggle financially compared to general repair, and what to do about it. We cover the "book time" billing model that lets general repair techs flag 50-60 hours in a 40-hour week, why performance shops are stuck at or below 100% efficiency, the parts markup gap, and the two metrics every shop owner needs to track: door rate and shop efficiency. Then...

Unlock the hidden secrets that are transforming manufacturing efficiency worldwide. If you're a shop owner, engineer, or entrepreneur looking to streamline your processes and eliminate waste, this episode is your blueprint to profit and precision. In this deep dive, Richard and Kevin explore the powerful concepts that can revolutionize your production line—from error-proofing and Pokeyoke techniques that prevent costly mistakes, to lean manufacturing principles that maximize value while minimizing waste. Discover how industry leaders are using Kanban boards, standardized work, and just-in-time inventory management to stay agile and cut costs. Plus, learn practical examples—from how to design parts that only...

In this episode, Kevin and co-host Richard Fielder break down the manufacturing systems used by large-scale factories and show you how to implement them in your small shop. Richard is a controls engineer at Peterbilt where he works with the systems that manufacture semi trucks at scale, and he brings that expertise to help small fabricators, tuners, and parts manufacturers work smarter. Whether you're making one-off custom parts or producing small batches, these principles will make you faster, more consistent, and more profitable.We cover 5S for organizing your workspace, shadow boards for tool management, standard operating procedures for documenting your...

In this episode of Do It For a Living, we sit down with two students from the University of North Texas Formula SAE team. This marks our first video episode and a new format where we explore the next generation of motorsports talent. Emily Gooden is the Operations Manager and Zach Warren is the EV Powertrain Lead - both are seniors studying engineering at UNT. Kevin, who has an FSAE background, discusses what it takes to run a student racing team with Emily, and put Zach's powertrain work to the test in a "Shark Tank" style technical challenge. Emily shares...

Bob grew up working on Fords by building engines and going drag racing. He got turned on to the Buick Grand National and became obsessed with going faster! After some frustration with trying to fine tune their setups, Bob decided to start diving into the actual electronic tuning. This opened a whole new world of going faster and picked up a bunch time at the drag strip. He had a couple computer businesses and a shop but was always helping people tune. So, he decided to make it a real business in 2007. The demand for their services kept growing...