We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Autumn Fawn Carrillo Morrison a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Autumn Fawn, appreciate you joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.
Risks are the foundation of success. I like to think of myself as a calculated Risk Taker. I remember a singer’s mom once asked me to coach her daughter on becoming successful as a singer. The first thing I told her is to get comfortable taking risks. Start small. When I was living in Toronto working at a corporate job in administration, a LONG way from my dreams in the arts and entertainment, I noticed that I was standing in the middle of the platform waiting for the subway. The exit at my stop was at one end of the station, so I stood in the middle so I wouldn’t be too far away. One day, when I was so sick of myself and this mundane life, I marched to one end of the platform and waited. When I got off the subway at my stop, I was exactly at the exit of the station. You might not even consider that a risk, but when your life has become all about playing it safe, trust me that little walk down the platform felt like jumping off the high diving board!
And that’s where my journey from corporate office Toronto, Canada to arts & entertainment in LA, California began.
The momentum of my risk taking continued to build. I was intentionally looking for opportunities to push myself out of my comfort zone and stop playing it safe. Changing your life from the subway in Toronto to a convertible Miata in Santa Monica is a process. And one that starts with taking a risk.
Eventually I worked with a life coach. In the summer of 2004 we had a Power Session and she asked me 2 questions:
1) If you could do anything what would it be?
2) What’s stopping you?
The first was: move to LA and pursue my dreams in arts & entertainment
The second was: I feel like I’m standing on the platform of a train station, and the trains pull in and pull out of the station. But I never get on. I’m comforted by the fact that there’s always another one.
Then she said; “close your eyes and see yourself getting on the train that has just pulled in.”
After a deep breath and sigh, I said; “Ok, I’m on.”
She gave me a few moments to ride the train, then said; “how does it feel?”
I was smiling so hard my cheeks hurt. My heart was pounding out of my chest. I was practically out of breath when I said; “it feels incredible! I’m not scared. I’m excited. I know where I’m going and I know what I’m doing. It’s like I’m going home.”
February 5th, 2005 I was on a plane to LA.
I had a place to stay for a month and enough money to rent a car for 3 months. The plan was that I would go to LA with a show that I had created to take some meetings and put together a creative team to build the show. And 3 months later, after the cold, ugly winter in Canada, I would go home; get married; close the lights on my dreams of LA–because I would have given it a try.
It’s now almost 2024 and I never left!
Risks are what take us away from yesterday, towards tomorrow.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am Autumn Fawn Carrillo Morrison, and I am the Co-Founder and COO of Gabe’s Professional Auto Solutions, Inc. I am amoung a handful of women in the automotive repair industry and I am proud of the influence I have as a Canadian-American woman in my male-dominated business. I am a mom of an 8 year old, I am the human mom of 3 dogs and the wife and partner to my husband and Co-Founder/CEO, Gabriel Enrique Carrillo Pinto.
It’s a little more complicated being a mom, wife, professional, business owner, home maker, business partner, HR director, chauffer, chef, domestic coordinator AND mySelf.
And yet, that is where it all started. My husband has been in the auto industry for a decade. He has worked HARD for the shadiest bosses and shop owners who exploit both their customers and employees alike. He has worked 6 days a week for 7 years, an average work day would be 11 hours, he would not take a lunch, he has never had a paid vacation, he has been harassed, threatened, not gotten paid for a whole month of wages and even assaulted at work. It is a brutal industry and anyone who has worked in auto repair, that is honest, will attest to that.
I see my husband rising through the positions, from detailer all the way to General Manager. I see the strength of relationships he has built up with customers and employees who have literally followed him when he would move to a difference company. So proud of what he has accomplished, I start planting seeds about going out on his own. Reiterating what other clients are already telling him; “you can do this.” These messages and pep talks fell on deaf ears for many years. .
Meanwhile I’m raising my little boy practically by myself, working from home as a bookkeeper and entertainment consultant trying to make ends meet and stay home with my newborn baby. Living through this, was hands down, the hardest time of my life. The worst part was the not knowing how we would ever get out of this situation; broke, exploited, new parents, no options. No option, but to keep going; keep hoping; keep believing.
And that’s exactly what we did.
Little by little getting ahead, getting out of desperation, gaining more experience, working together to build a better life. And finally 6 years later, after all those seeds, my husband came home from work one day, totally discouraged and frustrated and said; “Babe. Start.”
I had convinced him that together we could build a company that would not only support us, but all those devoted employees who had followed him from company to company. I assured him that together we could make our American dream come true. I explained that together we are the perfect partnership; I know everything I need to about establishing a business and what I don’t know, I can find out. And he knows everything about running a body shop, which at this point he had been doing for someone else for 3 years.
Gabriel kept his job for another 3 months, working after hours at our client’s locations every night. He took his 4 best guys with him, who also worked all day (from 7:00 in the morning) and came after hours just to help get our company up and running. Gabriel ended up having to quit because we took our first building and had to start working regular business hours to be able to service all the cars coming our way!
The following week our #1 guy quit and came to join us. A month later our senior technician quit and joined us full-time. Within the first month we had 7 employees and more cars than we had space to put them. Meanwhile I was burning the midnight oil getting all the permits, licenses, HR compliant documentation, city, county, state and Federal requirements in order, running my first payroll, issuing our first Employee Handbook…etc….etc. A year after that, we took over a second building, and 3 parking lots to keep up. 20 months ago, we hit the ground running and have not stopped!
What I realized is, even though my partner (and husband) knew everything he needed to know to running his own body shop, he couldn’t physically do it without me. Not only am I the business brain, the operations and make-it-happen expert, his cheerleader and companion–I am the nerve.
I’m the risk-taker.
My wise younger sister said to me once when I’d been standing on the cliff, looking out, looking up, and looking down; “don’t worry if you can’t fly yet, you’ll grow wings on the way down.”
I have lived my life by that.
After all the drama I saw Gabriel go through in the auto repair industry, I was adamant about establishing a strict code of conduct, standards of procedure and workplace culture that was respectful, professional, personal, enjoyable and drama-free. There is enough toxicity out there and I want none of that in my place of work, where it could be carried home, brought around my child, and seep into my relationship with my husband. We have a ZERO-tolerance policy. It has served us well.
A conducive environment to thrive, That’s what we have created. CEO and Co-founder, Gabriel, is able to focus on the high-performing team, the fast-paced production of the shop, the gold standard customer service, and concierge attention to our customers. He is passionate about giving the customer a Ritz Carleton experience, with fast service and no hassles. He will often handle the back and forth with the insurance company directly, so the customer doesn’t have to. His respect for our customers’ time, schedule, life demands and stresses mean that he doesn’t want to hold the car 1 hour longer than is needed. This is what gives us our edge in the customer experience. As Gabriel knows first hand, shops will say anything to get the car into their shop. And then, let it sit there. Not here. He won’t let a car sit for more than a week, 2-tops; the real estate on our shop floor is too valuable. Our customers love that!
With happy, cared for customers, I am able to focus on the second piece to our success, the talent. First priority: pay them what they are worth. When you pay the true value of an employee’s experience and abilities, you will sleep easy. And so, I recognize that our lead technician does the work of 3 men; that our lead painter approaches every car like a Ferrari; I notice that our detailer power hoses his brand-new clothes before even touching a vehicle. This is the kind of excellence and attention to detail that you wouldn’t see from the reception area, but we see it on our customers’ faces when they receive their cars back from us. This is all the validation we need to know we are on to something– fulfilled employees and happy customers. They do go well together.
I maintain my code of conduct initiative. Where other shops have signs at the reception refreshments reading CUSTOMERS ONLY, our shop refreshments are also in the kitchen with a sign that reads for EMPLOYEES ONLY.
Some of the many ways we recognize, respect and engage our employees are by holding regular team meetings airing out any issues, holding employee appreciation bar b q lunches every 2-months, celebrating everyone’s birthday, taking employees to lunch and sponsoring a race day at K1 the Friday before Labor Day weekend, offering optional holiday days after Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. These are small but impactful ways to show our team that we see them, we care about them and their lives outside of work and we appreciate them. We also check-in with everyone individually, we offer promotions and pay increases, no one is paid minimum wage, no one works on Saturdays, our hours are 8:00 – 5:00, no one works a 10 or 11 hour day; we pay salary not commission, which allows for a team environment, not competitive, cut-throat like most body shops. I have also established a training academy and mentor program to elevate our employees who want to grow. We laugh together, we support families when they are in need, and what we are most proud of, as a small, husband & wife business is that we insist on 1-week paid vacation to all our employees.
My proudest accomplishment is when our #1 guy, born and raised in California, who has worked in this industry 30 years, took his FIRST paid vacation.
This is what a woman brings to business. This is the human side of a company. And this is what I bring, a sense of justice, rights, recognition, respect, opportunity, and an expectation for excellence.
We rise together. Or, we don’t rise.
I am creating a Conscious Company. One that supports its most valuable assets, while supporting too, other companies with a social justice initiative. A few examples of this are when I created our uniforms I chose specifically to work with companies like bc Branding, who support and train foster youth/adults, and Mycal’s Prints who’s entire staff are adults with autism. This is making a difference in real people’s lives.
This is how one company–one woman can make the world a better place.
Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?
The first year was pretty sketch in terms of cash flow. For starters our client had 90 day terms, since we were a start-up new business. This meant we had to do the work, invoice the client, pay our team and expenses for 3 months before we received our first payment. Obviously we blew through our savings, our team who kept their day jobs for all this time, worked at night and agreed to cut us a break in order to help us get on our feet. You need people like this in your corner!
However, once we finally saw that first, long awaited deposit, the cashflow was already 3 months behind the expenses. Fortunately we were busy and growing our revenue steadily each month.
Our payroll is “cada quinze” or, every 2 weeks. So, it did not give us much time to hold the money in the account before our Direct Deposit Payroll was due again. Payroll is one of those things you absolutely cannot miss. That’s the law. For a solid 5 months it felt like we were lost at sea without a boat; a huge wave would hit, we’d be underwater looking for the surface, just make it and come up for air before the next wave (or payroll) would take us under again.
The first payroll were not going to make, a last minute customer walked in for a repair. A check in hand it was for the exact amount we were going to be short. Yes–we believe in miracles.
The second payroll we were going to short, my partner emptied the safe; the last of our life-savings into Payroll. The third payroll we were going to short, it was the day before I had to submit the totals, and we were short by $10K. At 10:30 at night my husband posted his classic Porsche, in mint condition, (for a bargain of the century) and at 10:00am the next morning we had the rest of our payroll.
There have been more than a few sleepless nights as Payroll would be approaching. And yet, every time, our “Payroll Prayers” have been answered. In our 19 months in business, we survived 90-day terms and never missed a payroll.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Resilience. Okay, this is KEY to a successful business. And there are many opportunities along the way to practice this most necessary quality. One of my favorite chances I had to exercise my resilience was with the City Building & Permit department. These guys can truly make or break you. Or at least, make your life miserable.
So, we have a rather unique business model in a traditional industry. The originality of our model is such that our equipment and facility can be a little more on the creative side. So much so, that everyone who has walked into our facility is gob-smacked by our set-up, efficacy and process. This included the Building Inspectors (yes, there were 2), City Compliance Officer, Fire Authority Inspector and even the upper management of our corporate client.
But, back to the City. While we were able to secure our Certificate of Occupancy based on the delicate description I wrote for our application, several months later a City Compliance Officer came by and started taking pictures. A few weeks later I received a package containing a near novel of violations along with a threat to shut us down. FORTUNATELY, I had already done my homework and knew that the equipment we were using fell through a loophole based on the mobile nature, in that it could be rolled up and put in the back of a truck. Knowing this gave me the confidence to fight these “violations” until the City surrendered. After nearly 5 months of back and forth, quoting State hazard code, fire code, environmental waste code…etc. the compliance officer from the city sent me to the Fire Authority telling me we needed a permit from them to stay in operation.
As predicted, the Fire Authority Inspector came and had never seen anything like it. He had no idea what to tell us; or what to do with us. He took some photos to relay to the director and said he’d be back in touch.
4 weeks later we had our Fire Authority Permit. And I’ve never heard from the City again!
Resilience is the difference between a seed and an Oak tree. The question to ask a successful business owner, is not; “How many mistakes have you made?” or “How many falls have you taken.
–The answer to this question is what will Inspire you (or terrify you);
“How many times have you gotten up?”
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gabesgps.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/GabesGPS
- Facebook: Facebook.com/GabesGPS