No stranger to getting his hands dirty, Carson started his automotive repair career right out of school, gaining increasing responsibility in a succession of jobs. He began as a detailer while attending an auto body program at a local community college. After that, he became a painter, then a body tech, then a production manager and finally — a shop manager.
"I've gone through the ranks. As much as I'd like to forget where I came from, I can't," Carson says. "It's a definite benefit from my standpoint, having that background. It has its limits at times, but for the most part I think it's more of an advantage than not. It's nice because I tell my guys, 'Don't ever think that this is the only place you can go. You can grow.' There's always room to grow. Back when I was doing body work I never thought I'd be a shop manager or a shareholder in an 11-shop operation."
That multi-shop operation is Collision Centers of America, a Northern Illinois-based company with locations in Chicago and several northern suburbs. Carson joined CCA in 2004 to serve as an estimator at the corporate headquarters in Woodridge, Ill. After four months he became a shareholder in the business. But it wasn't just Carson's hands-on experience that made him a desirable business partner — it was also his side business, Integrated Technology & Design, a Web-based training and consulting company.
Carson and his brother, whose background is in heavy construction equipment, started Integrated Technology & Design to address certain shortcomings they noticed in both businesses. "I saw a need for a standardized documenting procedure and a standard way of communicating," Carson says.
He noticed many shops were using different documents for the same procedures, which created confusion among shops. This was especially a problem for multi-shop consolidators. So the Carsons designed an online content-management system to standardize the documentation procedure.
After hiring Mike Carson to work at the corporate headquarters, Collision Centers of America signed on with the ITD system. Now Integrated Technology & Design controls documentation across all 11 shops via a secure online system. Employees can download and print out documents from anywhere at any time. "If a store needed a check request, they can just go in there and get it," Carson explains. "The CEO can be in Florida and upload documents to the site."