Friendly Neighborhood Estimator

26, mom of 2 wild toddlers, on a journey to learn more and grow in the collision repair industry.

[knight-in-sour-armor]

[collisioncolee]

To be clear before I go any further

Nothing I post/will post/have posted in the past blah blah blah blah blah concerning employment or views of views of views…. this is for me. For Nicole at her core for learning and growing and being equipping myself with tools” in my “toolbox” to do my job correctly. I want to be passionate, over the top, in love with what I do because it’s the only way to feel like you’re on vacation every day. So for my records and my networking and my quest to be the best I can be each day for my customers, here I am….

Asking humbly for help.

From anyone. About anything you can give me advice/link/procedures/guidebooks/etc etc etc…. A shout out into the void, probably, but here I am hoping that somewhere someone has the same glimmer of a passion and can help me dive into this.

Background: parents include a body man and a hardcore insanely smart manager mother, grew up in a shop (or bouncing around them rather), even into adulthood stumbling into the estimator path. I’ve been through (mental health wise…) a lot… blah blah blah, got some help, yada yada….great cool I’m on meds now and feel like I’ve missed 10 years of my life to not having a hobby/passion/something to throw myself into for mental exercise. I’d love to use my career as a basis of learning, hoping it will bring me more joy and success! I’ve been in the shop for 6 years, 2 as a receptionist, 2 at home as a reinspector third party, and 2 as a shop estimator where I’ve thrived the most. Just recently, a light clicked when I got intrigued with a “how does that work though…….?” And somehow I haven’t stopped asking questions.

So if anyone has magazine articles, oem procedures/position statements, insurance guidelines (oooooooh, and if you’re a baddie who has loopholes to *help* customers (((and again THIS IS ME PERSONALLY AS A HUMAN NOT AFFILIATED ANYWHERE LOL))), advice for a young gun who wants to go far, someone to bitch to about shop life because being a woman in this industry is harrrrrrrrrrrrrrd, lemme know. I need good friends, I would adore a mentor, and I’m a pretty inquisitive person to bounce ideas off of.

Nice to meet y’all!

-cole