After over 40 years, Rick Hughlett is passing over his responsibilities to his motivated son-in-law and retiring from his $8 million shop
By Nora Johnson / Photography courtesy Rick’s Automotive
When you call Rick’s Automotive (Springfield, Mo.) and get put on hold, an automated message rings through the phone. In between information about the shop, the voice recording mentions the owner, Rick Hughlett, and says that he can still typically be found in his office and to stop over for a brief conversation.
Purposeful or not, this speaks volumes about Rick’s. The shop—which is actually more similar in size to six to eight shops—has grown to be a total of three buildings, 41 employees, and 28 bays that brings in $8 million annually. In the last 40 years, Hughlett has created something undoubtedly impressive through the same attitude mirrored in the hold message. Employees stay at Rick’s, and customers keep coming to Rick’s because of the strong culture that has been built up throughout the years. But soon the hold message may have to change— after four decades with his business, Hughlett is working to step away and fully retire from his shop, passing the role to his son-in-law, and current vice president at Rick’s, Travis Comfort.
STEPPING OUT
Find the Right Time
Deciding to step away from the business that you have put all of your blood, sweat and tears into is no easy task. For Hughlett, he knew he wanted to retire from his shop in order to travel, boat the Great Loop, and ultimately spend more time with his grandchildren, but he wasn’t sure about timing.
To start the process of putting a retirement plan in progress, Hughlett turned to a mentor to discuss the “when”.
“I first talked to a friend about retiring when I was around fifty, I felt like I had everything in place and was ready to step away, but he told me I was way too young,” he explains.
Leaning on those in the industry and other business owners can be extremely helpful in determining the right time to begin to step away. Hughlett also heard about several other owners who had sold their businesses too soon and whom felt regret years later.
“When you've centered your whole life around building a business and taking care of your customers, you can become kind of lost when you leave,” he says. “So I definitely recommend studying how and when to retire.”
More than 10 years later, Hughlett brought up the same conversation to his mentor and soon began the process. The term “process” is important: creating a plan and fully stepping away can take eight or more years, he says.
Another key factor that Hughlett emphasizes is tactfully deciding what happens to your business—to sell or pass on, which can also impact retirement timing. He suggests really focusing on the finances of selling, along with the potential taxes. If selling calculate how much money you will receive and how long that money will last you. For Hughlett, he knew he wanted to pass down his business.
Create Multiple Plans
Determining when and how to retire from your business is important, but it leaves the equally significant question of “who.” Who will take over your metaphorical child when you step away?
Throughout Hughlett’s retirement process, his plans of “who” began to shift. In a devastating series of events, Tim Cummings, who had been with Rick’s for over 30 years and was originally on the path to take over the business, was diagnosed with Multiple System Atrophy. The debilitating neurodegenerative disorder caused Cummings to step away from Rick’s, and Hughlett had to reassess the future of his shop.
It soon became clear that his son-in-law, Travis Comfort, would be the best fit for the job, for Cummings had passed on his expert knowledge to Comfort over the recent years.
“We were grooming Travis to be Tim's assistant for a long time,” he says, “and then when Tim eventually had to step away, we just had to accelerate that path.”
Comfort is a great fit for taking over the business, explains Hughlett, because he has truly worked his way up over the years. From sweeping the shop floor to running the parts department, he knows the business, the culture, the employees and customers, and how to add to the extreme success of Rick’s Automotive.
“Travis has done a fantastic job,” he says.
Hughlett is currently stepping away from his shop for months at a time, leaving the day-to-day to Comfort and the rest of his trusted team. He sees himself fully retired in the next three years.
STEPPING IN
Put In the Work
I think everyone in the industry can agree that Hughlett has created something quite incredible over the years. The proof is in the shop’s yearly revenue, high employee retention, and constant expansion. With a strong work ethic and the help of Hughlett, Cummings, Tim Fess (Comfort’s team partner at Rick’s), and countless other industry mentors, associations, and organizations, Comfort says he feels ready to take on the lead.
“Rick has been preparing me since I first started here, teaching me a little bit of this and a little bit of that for the past twelve years,” Comfort says. “He has really taught me to always focus on our employees and to do the right thing with our customers.”
Comfort has also found ways to improve his management and industry skills outside of the shop. He is heavily involved in local networking organizations, 20 groups, associations (including MWACA), and industry training. With his “put your head down and work hard” attitude, Comfort continues to put in the work inside and outside of Rick’s Automotive to help aid in its success.
“If you find a place where you enjoy working, that has great leadership, and an employee-driven culture, stick with it and work your way up,” Comfort says. “This is not the easiest industry to be in, but hard work does reward itself.”
Don’t Fix What’s Not Broken
The strong shop culture, customer service and community involvement is what helps keep Rick’s Automotive successful. And Comfort has no plans to really change any of the aspects that make the shop great.
“Rick and I are both very employee- and community-driven, we’re not just fixing cars,” he explains. “We try to keep things creative and keep the employees happy.”
And the employees definitely seem to be happy. Plenty of staff members have been with the business for 10, 20, even 30 years. This is strongly connected to the culture of celebration that has been created at Rick’s. Each year (COVID-19 aside), the shop hosts employee parties and get-togethers to strengthen the sense of family. And, as a more unique opportunity, Rick’s offers longtime employees an all-expenses-paid vacation when they reach certain milestones to thank the team members for their hard work and dedication.
The culture also expands past the shop doors and bleeds into the community. Rick’s continues to give back to their surrounding areas in many different facets.
Hughlett is always a phone call away if Comfort has a new idea or wants to tweak something in the shop; but the main pillars that hold up Rick’s Automotive will stay the same as the roles transfer.