4.8 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 4 December 2025
⏱️ 72 minutes
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This episode sponsored by Pleasant Car Care
LightSpeed VT: https://www.lightspeedvt.com/
Dropping Bombs Podcast: https://www.droppingbombs.com/
In this game-changing Dropping Bombs episode, auto repair entrepreneur Charlie Zlatkos breaks down the exact blueprint that tripled shop revenues in 90 days—no gimmicks, just execution. From arriving in America at 16 speaking only four words of English to co-owning a nearly $100 million auto empire, Charlie reveals the Auto Shop Answers methodology built on transparency, hospitality, and relentless systems.
Charlie exposes the key-to-key-to-callbacks framework, fraud prevention strategies costing owners thousands, and recruiting secrets that build unstoppable teams. Hear how systematic follow-ups, video inspections, and relentless training turned auto repair into auto hospitality—scaling struggling shops to $6 million annually without needing massive facilities.
Whether you own a shop, work in one, or want to stop getting hustled, this episode delivers the exact playbook to dominate your market and build generational wealth.
🔗 Connect with Charlie Zlatkos
Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/charliezlatkos
Website — https://charliezlatkos.com/
Auto Shop Answers — https://www.autoshopanswers.com/
Watch the full-length video version of any Dropping Bombs episode here on YouTube.
Brad Lea is a self-made entrepreneur who turned small-town grit into a multi-million-dollar empire. With over 25 years dominating sales and leadership, he's mentored thousands to outsmart, outwork, and out win their competition. His top-rated podcast, Dropping Bombs, brings raw, game-changing insights from the biggest names in business.
LightSpeed VT is Brad's brainchild—the world's leading interactive training platform. It's built to make your team sharper, faster, and more effective, without wasting time or money. Whether you're a startup or a Fortune 500, LightSpeed VT is how you scale success and dominate your industry. Curious? Check it out:
https://www.lightspeedvt.com/
Brad's also behind Closer School, the go-to program for mastering sales and closing deals like a pro. Want to 10x your income? This is where you start. His book, The Hard Way, lays out the brutal, honest lessons he learned building his empire—your blueprint to winning the game. Get it here: https://bradlea.com/product/the-hard-way/
This isn't just a video. It's a wake-up call. Watch it. Share it. Act on it.
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| 0:00.0 | When I came to this country, I could speak four words. I didn't have any money. We scaled this whole company, which right now would do just under $100 million in revenue a year. We have a lot of people that double the revenue within 30, 60, maximum 90 days. We want every store that we own to do $500,000 a month, which is $6 million a year. We're really running a training company that happens to be in the car repair business. |
| 0:22.3 | It's better than a college degree. |
| 0:24.0 | You could take this concept and run different business, |
| 0:27.3 | not just auto repair. |
| 0:28.8 | The concept is so scalable. |
| 0:30.4 | You know, the only way to really generate generational wealth |
| 0:34.1 | is to go. |
| 0:42.6 | What it is, Brad Lee, back again with another episode of dropping bombs today in the studio, folks. |
| 0:48.9 | I got a real treat for you, especially if you like to make money and you're in the automotive space. |
| 0:51.4 | I got Keriakoslatcos. |
| 0:56.7 | Call me Charlie, Brad, aka Charlie. Charliea. Charlie's Latcos, folks. |
| 1:03.5 | Now, the reason I said if you're in the automotive repair business and you want to get in the automotive hospitality business, that's really kind of your story, which we're going to go over. |
| 1:09.1 | But folks, pay attention if you own a shop. |
| 1:14.2 | Pay attention if you want to own a shop and pay attention if you work at a shop, because if you |
| 1:19.3 | want true generational wealth, this man's going to talk about exactly how he did it and how you |
| 1:26.0 | can do it as well. Welcome to the show. Oh, thank you for having me, Brad. It's been awesome here. So obviously you're from Greece. Yeah. Yeah. I was there once, Micanos. Oh, you were. Beautiful place. I haven't been to Miconos. I've been to Sandorini. Santerini, I was there. I loved Greece. Yeah, beautiful. Why would you want to leave there? Oh, there's no money there, right? I mean... It was when I was there. Nah, I mean, it's all the tourists that you saw. You went to the beautiful places where all the tourists go. That's why you saw the money. I mean, when you live there, it's a different world, right? It's not easy to make money there. So no opportunity? Opportunity is almost not existed. It's very, |
| 2:05.7 | very difficult. What made you decide, hey, let's head do the US of A? So actually, we're supposed |
| 2:12.5 | to move. So my mother has a sister that's been here since like the late 70s and we're supposed to move when |
| 2:18.7 | I was five years old. We got an invitation and then my father last minute changed his mind so we |
| 2:24.6 | never moved to the United States. And then years and years later, I'm about 16 and a half or |
| 2:29.9 | something at the time. I go home one day and my parents are like, oh, we're moving to the United |
| 2:33.5 | States. I'm like, excuse me? I mean, at the time, I go home one day. My parents are like, oh, we're moving to the United States. I'm like, excuse me? I mean, at the time, I'm involved with motorcycles and, you know, I have my friends and girlfriends, and I don't want to move at the time. It's a very tough age to move, right? Yeah. So make a long story short. We moved here, and my grandmother had a, you know, a relative of says, I didn't want to go. He's like, you go for six months, give it a try. If you don't like it, just come back. You can stay with me. And that's really the motivating factor. I'm like, I had a backup plan per se. So I came here, but then obviously within six months, I got used to, you know, I made some friends and I got a job. |
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