Hit 1000 oil changes last Tuesday and it messed with my head

I was just cleaning up after a transmission job on a 2015 Freightliner when I realized I'd been keeping a tally on my shop calendar. Counted them up and it was exactly 1000 oil changes since I started my mobile service in Austin three years ago. That number hit me different because I remember struggling to book my first 10 customers. Has anyone else had a simple work milestone like this catch them off guard?

2 comments

2 Comments

irishenderson21h ago

Do you ever find yourself getting numb to the little wins? I used to think it was silly to make a big deal out of routine numbers like that. But last year I hit 500 brake jobs and that quiet moment of counting changed my mind. It's not the number that matters, it's the story of all those people who trusted you with their vehicles one at a time. That tally represents years of showing up and doing the work when nobody was watching.

terry114h ago

Totally disagree @irishenderson. Numbers are just numbers at the end of the day. I've done thousands of jobs and I don't count them because honestly the next one is always the same as the last. Trust is nice but people pay me to fix their stuff not to feel warm and fuzzy about it.