MSA Shop Management Bootcamp

Run your shop by the numbers

The MSA Shop Management Bootcamp is a full-day, hands-on class built on one idea: run your shop by the numbers. We take an analytical approach to shop management, using real data and reports to guide every decision instead of gut feel. We start with how a shop is structured and how it actually makes money, then show the owner which reports matter, what they tell you, and what action each number should trigger. From there we define every role in the shop by the outcomes it has to deliver for those reports to be accurate and for the shop to succeed. We finish by tying it together, showing how one job moves through your workflow and how the same structure and processes work whether you're a one-person operation wearing every hat or a shop with several people in each role.

The class follows the MSA Shop Management Series, taught in depth and in person. The videos show you where things are. The Bootcamp is where we dig into why they work, how the roles connect, and how to set them up for your shop. It's held in Indianapolis the day before the PRI Show opens, taught by the My Shop Assist team, and capped at 20 seats so there's time for questions about your own shop.

Class details

Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2026
Time: 9:00 am to 3:00 pm
Location: Room 207, Indiana Convention Center, 100 S. Capitol Ave., Indianapolis, IN
Seats: Limited to 20 attendees
Price: $500 per person

What we'll cover

How a shop is structured. The high-level map of the business: the seats every shop has, how work moves from the first customer call to the bay to the invoice, and how money and information move with it.

How the shop makes money. Labor, parts, and your own products: the margin on each, what your labor really costs, and where money leaks out through unbilled time, uncharged parts, and loose estimates.

The owner: what to look for. Managing a successful shop starts with defining success. We'll build out the Profitability Guide from your target profit, expenses, and payroll to find the hourly rate and gross profit per billable hour your shop actually needs. Then we'll use the Employee Service Report to see whether your team can hit it, and Task Reports to see whether the services you sell can get you there, and what to check daily, weekly, and monthly.

The parts person. Keeping inventory honest: parts coming in, parts going onto jobs, knowing what's on the shelf and what to reorder, and purchasing without the guesswork. Includes the wholesale side: pricing for dealers and other shops, and filling B2B orders from the same inventory without throwing off your counts.

The technicians. Assigned tasks, clocking time against the job so labor is captured accurately, and documented procedures so the work comes out the same no matter who's doing it. This is where the owner's productivity numbers come from.

Shop management. Running operations once the shop has more than a couple of people: scheduling and assigning work, keeping techs loaded without overbooking, and catching stalled jobs and bottlenecks before they cost you.

Sales and service managers. Everything customer-facing: selling the job from inquiry to estimate to approval, keeping customers updated, handling added work, and collecting payment, including progress billing on long builds. We'll tie what they quote back to the margins the shop needs.

Accounting. How it all lands in QuickBooks, so parts, labor, and cost of goods sold end up in the right accounts and the books confirm what the reports told you.

Manufacturing. For shops that make their own products: assemblies that scale with the size of the build, pick lists for the assembler, production visible alongside service work, and selling what you build to dealers and other shops.

Pulling it all together. One job traced through every seat: the tech's time clock feeds the owner's productivity numbers, inventory feeds job cost, and job cost feeds the books. Whether you're one person wearing every hat or have several people in each role, the structure and processes are what make the numbers reliable. You'll map your own people to the seats and leave with a clear, measurable plan for your shop.

Who should attend

Shop owners, managers, service writers, parts people, and anyone responsible for running the business side of a tuning, racing, engine building, fabrication, or parts manufacturing shop. Bringing more than one person from your shop is a good idea, since different seats get different things out of the day. Each attendee needs their own seat.

What to bring

Bring a laptop, and if you can, make sure you're able to log in to your QuickBooks and your My Shop Assist account from it. You'll get the most out of the day working in your own numbers and your own setup instead of a demo. Your profitability targets, your services, and your chart of accounts are what we want to be looking at. If you're not on MSA yet, or can't access your books from the road, you can still follow along; you'll just be taking the setup home instead of doing it in the room.

Get a head start

Want a preview? Watch the Shop Management Series introduction and the Owners and Managers episode before the class.

Seats are limited

We cap the room at 20 so everyone gets time to ask questions about their own shop. Reserve your seat below, and we'll follow up by email with everything you need before the class.