From Australia to MTE: A Journey in Detailing

This podcast episode delves into the experiences and insights derived from participation in the Mobile Tech Expo (MTE), particularly highlighting the significance of education in the detailing industry. We explore the value of continuous learning, as we discuss our personal journeys through various training programs and competitions, emphasizing the importance of honing one's skills to provide exceptional service, especially when handling high-value vehicles. The conversation also touches upon the evolving landscape of automotive detailing, with an eye toward emerging technologies and techniques, as well as the challenges faced by professionals in maintaining quality standards in the face of evolving materials and customer expectations. Furthermore, we reflect on the camaraderie fostered within the detailing community, underlining how shared experiences at events like MTE enrich our understanding and capabilities. Join us as we navigate the intricacies of detailing, the importance of education, and the future of our craft.

Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content: http://www.youtube.com/@TheDetailSolutionsPodcast1

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I've heard some reallynightmares from other.
From other people wherethey've just started Wet sang on
a brand new amg.
Like, why would you want to do that?
Like, you know.

(00:47):
How you doing?
Good, thank you, Alex.
Good.
Thank you so much for havingme on the show and hello to all the
listeners.
Yeah, no, man, I, I wasexcited to meet you at mte.
We.
We met in the Aquatech booth,knew Jason and Mike from before.
Yes.

(01:08):
And then you.
We were able to squeeze youinto the paint correction competition,
which congratulations on third place.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, yeah, that was exciting.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You came on a hope and whimbecause you didn't get signed up
in time.
So you, you just brought yourstuff with you and was like, tried

(01:31):
to get in where you could fitin and.
And we got you.
So it was awesome.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So yeah, I was just walkingaround, you know, in circles around
the.
The booth there, and I was, yeah.
Hoping that I could get atleast a involvement in it and.

(01:52):
Yeah, so, yeah, that's.
That's how it was.
No, that's awesome.
I'm glad we were able to getyou in because it, it really helped,
I feel like, make it a trueinternational competition because
we had you and then we had Donand Paulo from Canada, so we had
a few countries representing,which was awesome.

(02:13):
Yes.
Yeah.
And then.
And it actually.
So actually you got third place.
We had an Australian get thirdplace, then Apollo got second, so
we had a Canadian get second.
And then good old USA came outon top with.
With Mike Grant.
Yeah.
So, I mean, it was awesomethat that out of the three countries

(02:34):
that were kind of represented.
Yeah, they all placed.
Yeah, it was awesome.
No, that was a fantastic thing.
The only disappointing thingis I didn't.
Yeah, I didn't turn up for the presentation.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was so excited with theother, like, the people at the show
that I just started donatingmy time to help them pack up and,

(02:56):
and you know, and just pickingup their.
Their stage show and all thatstuff and just talking to people
from all over the place.
Yeah, yeah.
No, no, I mean, hey, at leastwe ran into you before Sheldon dipped
out.
We were able to get you yourtrophy and your prizes and everything.
So that was.
Yeah, that was cool.

(03:16):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thank you so much.
Well, if I was there, I wouldlike to say thank you to MTE and,
And, you know, accepting ofthe, the prizes and all that.
That was exciting.
Very exciting.
Yeah.
So I know we spoke a little bit.
So this was your.
Your first mte.

(03:37):
Yes.
So, you know, just for thepeople, you know, kind of listening,
what was your, you know, likecoming for all the way from Australia
to Mobile tech.
So I mean, like for.
Because the Australians too,like, let them know why maybe they
should make the trip to mtebecause we.
I do have a pretty decentlistenership in, in Australia.

(04:00):
So yes, I'd love to have more,you know, Aussies come over and,
and hang out with us for a fewdays at mobile tech.
So, you know.
Yeah.
Fun.
It was.
Yeah.
Well, for years I was going toSEMA and, and seem is a fantastic

(04:22):
place and all that, but alwayshad the back of my mind I've got
to go to, you know, MTE and.
And what just to find outlike, what's it like?
Is it like, you know, asection of SEMA or something like
that?
And.
But also I was starting torealize, like, it's more, can I say,

(04:42):
for mobile issues and thingslike that.
So I said I always wanted togo and it could be an extension from
SEMA and all that sort of stuff.
Not only that, but theeducation day at nte, that was exciting.

(05:03):
I know you can't sayeverything in 45 minutes.
Yeah.
But at least, but at least itgives you an overall aspect of, of
the topics that they explainall that and it can be a good insight
to, to more of understanding.
It's always good to learnevery day, I believe because, you
know, technology is changingand products are changing, things

(05:25):
like that, keeping up with the times.
And yeah, I encourage anybodyfrom Australia to, you know, to go
there because I think for me,America has been the place to learn
and understand more aboutwhat, like in my field, in the detailing
field of what's going on.
Right.
We always seem like for me inAustralia, it always seems to be,

(05:47):
you know, after almost after something.
But yeah, that's.
That's the only thing that I,that I.
Yeah, that's the only I getout of it.
Yeah, that's.
That's one of the things.
I mean the few Australiansthat I've had on before with the
cams and Daryl.
Not Daryl, Dale and, andMaddie, that's the one thing that

(06:10):
they've always said is.
Is it.
Is it.
You guys are kind of always behind.
It's.
It's late getting, you know,from, from either from Europe or
from America.
Whatever, the, the thing, theproduct, the tool, the whatever is
getting to you guys is always late.
So.
So yeah, I mean that's, it's,it's cool.
So let me ask you this because I'm.

(06:32):
I'm always more excited forMTE than I think I am for sema.
If you could only choose oneto go to, which one would you choose?
And.
And why?
Well, after the firstexperience, I think MTE is great.
So I would choose mte.

(06:53):
It's more on a personal level.
I saw it.
Anything you want to knowrelated to the detailing community.
Yeah.
It's the place to go.
Whereas compared to semar,it's more of a show products, atmosphere
because it's huge.

(07:16):
Obviously we don't have thepopulation like the usa, but.
But I think for moreindulgence, I think the MTE is.
Is better.
Better down that road, I wouldtake after the first experience,
but I mean.
But going for years at sema,it's just.

(07:36):
It's like a big show sort of,in a sense, but where simte is more,
I think, tailored for.
For the detailer.
Right.
And.
Yeah, yeah, that's.
That's the thing that I've.
I've always said over theyears is like, empty or SEMA's the
party, you know, that's.
That's right.
You go to Vegas, you party,you hang out, you probably go to

(07:58):
the show for a little bit or whatever.
Well, I've done.
Whereas MTE is.
Is like.
That's kind of like the, youknow, that's kind of like the reunion.
That's kind of like, you know,the family reunion.
That's.
Everybody gets together, hangsout, like, everybody's most part
on property and the.

(08:18):
In the hotel, you know,convention center and everything.
So, you know, that's the thingI always say is, like, when SEMA's
over, like, they kick you outof the convention center and everybody
kind of goes their separateways, and you.
You kind of hope you meet upto them.
Whereas with mte, you walk outand there's a crowd of people standing
out in the hallway andeverybody continues to have conversations.

(08:41):
Yeah.
You know, till Whatever.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, one thing, I must say,everybody there was rel related because
we're all coming from thatsame industry, not from different
other industries.
Right.
Whereas, you know, sema, yougot like, ties and every part of
the car.
Yeah.

(09:02):
Whereas here.
Yeah, it's.
It's more, you know, straight.
Straight lined up.
Everything's all lined up foryou here.
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
On a personal level.
Yeah.
So it's.
It's very good.
It's very good.
So are you gonna come backnext year?
You're gonna.
You're gonna try to.
You're gonna try to improveupon your third Place.

(09:22):
Oh, yeah, definitely,definitely, definitely.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I will come back and I'll.
I'll.
I'll have to make my ownlittle model of at home here.
Yeah.
And just do a couple ofpractices because I, I still felt
like I had another extra 10seconds left to go within that five
minutes of that polishing contest.

(09:44):
And I think the extra 10seconds would have helped, but it's
just, you know, when you, whenyou just walk in and it's all right.
Yeah.
You want to go.
Okay, I'll pay now and jump on.
Well, yeah, it's all, youknow, life moments.
Yeah.
And.
And again, you didn't, youdidn't have your own tool and pads
and everything.
You just brought your own chemicals.

(10:04):
Right.
So, I mean, like, did the.
Basically.
Yeah, yeah.
So, I mean, like, were youable to get the, the correct tool
that you needed to use andpads and everything?
Yeah, well, well, Jason Rose,who was running the, the show there,
he was and, you know, askingfor the names and things like that.
He.
Yeah, he just basically said,look, what do you need?
And all that.
And yeah, he got it.

(10:25):
He got it all there for me.
Ready to go.
Nice.
And, yeah, so, yeah, sobecause of our voltage, you know,
here in Australia and comparedto the American voltage.
Yeah, of course, you know,it's 110, and here we've got 240.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was, you know, I wish Icould have bought my machine, but.
Because actually the, mymachine is still the Rupees Mark

(10:48):
one.
Oh, okay.
The old.
Yes.
Nice.
Nice.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, I, I still think, Istill think, you know, the principles
are still the same.
They still perform just as well.
But I'm sure, you know, withthe Mark iii, which I, Which I did
work on there.
Yeah, there.
There are vast improvements onthere, too, as well.

(11:10):
Yeah, my, My favorite's the two.
I have.
I have two twos and then oneEs or whatever.
Yeah, I, I wasn't a big fan ofthe Mark iii.
I, I got one.
I, I wasn't a fan of the, The.
The new trigger.

(11:30):
Right.
How you can kind of like slowpull it or whatever.
I just wasn't a fan of that.
And then I also wasn't a fanof the bigger speed dial.
Right.
Because it's more open and Itend to choke up more on the handle
versus kind of down low.
And so what happens is myhand, because I choke up higher,

(11:53):
my hand ends up hitting the,the speed indicator and.
Right.
And moving it either up or down.
So I like the, I like the oldSpeed dial on the mark ones and the
mark twos because I can chokeup higher.
It's a smaller, thinner dialand it doesn't, doesn't turn on me.
So.
So yeah, so I found one of mybuddies had a, a very slightly used

(12:19):
Mark ii.
I mean it was basically brandnew and I was like, hey man, I'll
trade you, I'll trade you myMark III from, for that Mark ii.
And he's like, why?
And I was like, dude, I, Ijust don't, you know, like this one's
cooler but like I want that one.
And he's like, okay, so like,so he traded.
Right, right, right, right, right.
Geez.
Yeah, yeah.

(12:40):
So.
So yeah, so that's, that's,but that's cool that you're still
using a, an old Es andeverything because that's.
Yeah, what those were, those,those came out in like what, like
14, 2014.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because I also, I also joinedpart of the, the Bigfoot Academy
too as well.
Okay.

(13:00):
Yeah, so I did all that and Ijust, I just stuck with the machine.
Yeah, it was, it's a machinethat's gone on my journey sort of
in a sense.
Yeah.
No, that's awesome.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And it's probably made you aton of money, hasn't it, along the
way?
Well, well, it's been.
Yeah, but yeah, because likebefore that.

(13:23):
Yeah, I was working other machines.
I was working on festools machines.
I had a shine X which was arotary that.
And then there was the Rotex,the Festival Rotex, the 1 2, 5.
That changes mode and all thatsort of stuff from you know, Direct
and.
Or Random Orbital.

(13:44):
Yeah, yeah.
So yeah, it's interesting, youknow, collection of tools.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, yeah.
So, so tell me a little bitabout like your like what kind of
detailing and stuff do you dothere in Australia?
Yeah, I do a large variety ofdifferent detailing.

(14:07):
I have my like for example, myweekly clients, I look after their
vehicles.
So there's that type of detailing.
I also do a fleet of trucks as well.
So trucks that are, that go inouter areas of the suburbs and all
that, they collect a lot ofdirt and things like that.

(14:29):
I do that type of detailingand then yeah, just other aspects
of detailing.
Like I might do a little bitof windscreen repair.
What else?
Sometimes you know, those veryfine chips of paint and things like
that.
That type of detailing.
Yeah, yeah, just, just, yeah,little aspects of that.

(14:51):
Because I'm only a one manband sort of show.
Yeah.
And, yeah, I just, I can onlydo so much in a day.
Yeah, same, Same here.
I tell people all the time.
It's, it's just me.
And I'm not getting anyyounger, so, like, yes, book what
I can do.
And, and that's it.
It's, it's, you know, my, mygood friend Alan Medcraft told me

(15:12):
years ago, he's like, yeah,you just have a lifestyle business.
You know, it just keeps you inthe lifestyle that, that you need
to be in.
And yeah, you know, andthat's, that's the thing.
It's, it's always funnybecause I, you know, like, I always
get the phone calls, you know,from the people that are like, oh,
we can help grow your business.
We can give you this, we cangive you that.
I'm like, look, man, like, I'mnot trying to grow my business.

(15:33):
Like, I, I have, I have the,have, you know, like a couple of
new ones, trickle in orwhatever, but I'm like, yeah, I'm
not, I'm not trying to be abig giant shop, you know, I'm not
trying to have employees orany of that stuff.
And it's, and it's funnybecause, like, they, I think they're
just so used to callingdetailers, you know, and be like,
oh, we can help grow your business.

(15:53):
We can get you 30 extracoatings a month.
And, you know, they'reprobably like, yeah, sign me up.
And I'm like, nah, not for me.
Like, I'm good, you know.
Yeah, no, I, I, it's funny,Alex, the, I get phone calls every
week and there's always peoplelike, oh, look, are you interested
in getting more work?
And, you know, earning that$10,000 a month?

(16:17):
And I say, no, you know, andthese days I don't even answer the
phone anymore.
I just leave it on voicemailand, and yeah, let, let the rest
look after itself.
Yeah, exactly.
Because I, I started, Istarted, I started to realize, like,
that's those type of phonecalls, they just waste my time of
the day.
You know, I'm like, I'msupposed to be, you know, working

(16:37):
and all that.
Our jobs are very laborious jobs.
You know, we are also, youknow, phone receptionists and accountants
and, and, you know, all thesethings, you know, they just take
time of the day.
And as you said before, like,I don't even want to grow my business.
I just want to stay, like, ina job and look after my clients.

(16:57):
Right?
Like, my clients are my bosses.
You know, that's, that's,that's how I, that's how I, I come
across.
Whatever they design theirvehicle, I'll do it my, I'll do my
best.
And yeah, always try, try tohelp out all the time.
Yeah, no, that's, that's awesome.
That's awesome.

(17:18):
Yeah.
So you, you said that you, youcame over for the Bigfoot Academy
and you come over for sema.
Is it something that you dokind of regularly coming over to
the States to either learn orattend the trade shows?
Yeah, I'm always, always, youknow, looking and learning ahead

(17:41):
all the time.
It's just, it's just basicallykeeping up with, you know, technology
and products and things like that.
What's going on in theindustry that, that's more important
for me because as I said,like, there's always something to
learn every day.
Yeah.
And you know, like, you justnever know.

(18:02):
Like, you know, when I lookafter my clients, you just never
know.
Like there could be someonebehind you taking over my job.
Do you know what I mean?
But it's just more of a senseof being knowledgeable and not talking
rubbish to people and thingslike that too as well.
Yeah, it's, I believe it's agood conversation piece if because

(18:22):
being, try to, being aprofessional, you have to come across,
you know, as a professional.
Ellen job.
Yeah.
Can't just rock up.
You can't just rock up and youknow, hey look, I've got a bucket
and a sponge and well, I mean.
I don't know, I don't know howlong you've hung out in, in the,
in the U.
S for, but that's how mostpeople seem to get their start is

(18:46):
right.
Okay, okay, just go, go down and.
Buy one of the chemical guysor whatever, bucket starter kits.
And I'm a detailer now.
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
That, that really impresses mewhen I sometimes come across people.
For example, if I sometimes I,I head out to businesses and then
other businesses have gotdetailers there and I sort of ask

(19:08):
them, I say listen, look,where did you get taught?
You know?
Yeah.
And the only reply get is Google.
Yeah, you know why?
I said, but why, why do you do that?
I said, and I, I try and givemy advice.
I said listen, look, why don'tyou go and buy yourself a ticket,
a plane ticket and go to headoff to the U.S.
yeah.
Because if you, if you'reinterested, there's a lot of people

(19:29):
out there that can help you out.
You know, what you see onGoogle and what you, whatever you
type up.
Yeah.
There are results there.
But the results, are they realresults or they just fake results?
Right, exactly.
You know, someone may showsomething on, on YouTube or something
like that, but then that maylook all right.
But then what would it looklike in three months time or 10 months

(19:50):
time?
You know, it's always good toshow something.
Oh yeah, look, I did this and,and I did that.
But then what are the true results?
You know, down, down, down thepath somewhere, you know.
Oh, exactly.
I had, I, I went and saw oneof my regular clients today.
She's got a, a 911 and I, Imaintenance it every week or whatever.

(20:14):
Yeah.
And when I got into.
To vacuum it, like I couldsmell a strong chemical smell.
Right.
Wow.
Like her car doesn't ever dothis or whatever.
And so when I'm knocking itout, then when I noticed on the dry
or on the passenger side, thecarpet had the lines in it, you know,
the old detailer brush line.

(20:38):
Yep.
Like I felt, I felt cheated on.
Exactly.
And you know, so I mean, wepollen down.
Pollen here right now is justlike super crazy.
It's, it's so dry.
Hasn't rained in a while.
Yeah.
But the car looked dirty, so Iwas like, well, that's weird.
Like if she just had theinterior done.

(20:58):
So I never really talked to her.
I have garage codes, so I openthe garage, I do my thing, and then
I leave in the morning.
So I shot her a text messageand was just kind of like, you know,
hey, I noticed a real chemicalsmell in your car.
That's pretty strong.
Did you have the, you know,clean the inside or whatever?

(21:20):
And so she replied back.
She's like, oh, yeah, I wentin for service and they did it.
Detail on it.
She goes, I don't like that smell.
She's like, I'm trying tofigure out what it is.
Yeah.
So, so, so that I, I hit herwith the, well, if it doesn't go
away, let me know becauseyeah, I have, I have an odor out
system.
I can take care of that.
And I said, and I'm prettysure because Obviously it's a 911,

(21:44):
it's a expensive car, you takeit for service.
Typically they, they do, youknow, you know, the maintenance detail,
kind of, whatever, you know.
So I told her, I said, I said,well, just so you know, I, I'm sure
you didn't pay for it, but ifyou did, I, I do offer those other

(22:05):
services.
Because all she's ever had todo is, is washes.
Because it's a convertible.
She doesn't want to run itthrough the, the ton of wash or whatever.
So I was like, yeah, I can dothose services and I won't leave
it smelling like chemicalswhen I'm done with it.
Yeah.
So she was like, oh, that'sgreat to know.
She's like, I'll let you knowif it doesn't go away next week,
then I'll, I'll, I'll ask youto do that odor out service or whatever.

(22:27):
So, yeah, hopefully thinkthank you.
Porsche just made me a littlebit extra money, so.
But I mean, it's kind of thesame thing, right?
I mean, like, I feel like, Ifeel like our dealership detailers
don't have a ton of experience.
You know, they're, they'repeople that are just.

(22:48):
And, and I'll say it lightly,not every dealership detail, because
I do know some that areworking at dealerships that, that
are amazing.
But a lot of the dealershipswe have down here, their, their detail
shops are, are kind of ownedby, by companies like Tap Seal and,
and Armored Protection orArmored Butler, whatever.

(23:10):
And.
Right to me, I always feellike those were the guys that couldn't
make it in the car wash detail shop.
Because I remember.
Yeah.
When I, when I ran the carwash detail shop, if somebody didn't
cut it, we let them go.
You know, they'd be like,well, I'm just gonna go to the dealership
and get a job.
Like, go on then, you know.

(23:31):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's what I, what I findfrustrating here in Australia is
that dealerships such premiumbrands don't give premium results.
It's the same here.
Yeah, it's really, really funny.
I find that really funnybecause, like, I've seen some interesting

(23:52):
things on vehicles and I just.
Yeah, I just can't believe.
Sometimes I just can't believemy eyes.
Like even if they did something.
But then.
Did someone check, inspect thevehicle after it's given to the new
owner?
Just, just certain things like that.
I want to be negative, butit's just, I find really, really
interesting stuff on there.
And then, you know, evenowners themselves.

(24:14):
Oh, yeah.
But it's a brand new car, but.
Yeah, it's a brand new car.
Yeah.
But it's got faults on it tooas well.
Yeah, you know, I just, Ijust, Yeah, I just.
Sometimes I'm just in shock.
Sometimes I don't even knowwhat to say.
Yeah.
You know, I, I always, Ialways love the.
It's a brand new car.
It's like, okay, but how longdid it sit on the lot?

(24:35):
Like how many.
Yeah.
Days.
Was it like, you know, hitwith the old, you know, pressure
washer and left out in the sunto dry?
And now you've got all thesewater spots and marring marks.
Yeah.
And everything like that.
So.
Yeah.
I always like to tell peopleabout how many days did it sit on
a lot before you bought it?
You know, how many times theywash it because somebody test drove

(24:59):
it, you know, and it needed tobe cleaned again, you know, like.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely.
Definitely.
I had once where an owner hadpicked up this car and drove it straight
to my.
My studio at my home here andsaid, look, I've just come straight
away from.
From a suburb, from the caryard, and yeah, I want to show it

(25:20):
to you right now and I wantyou to do this to my car.
And I said, where was this carin the lot?
He goes, oh, it was on theshowroom floor.
And I said, I said, well, youjust bought probably the worst car
out of the lot because thething is, it's just filled with so
many products on there to h.
Imperfections that.
Yeah.
That car is there in theshowroom force for a reason.

(25:42):
Yeah.
When it's displayed.
Yeah.
And.
Yeah, that's.
That's the sort of thing.
And then by the time I startedwork on it, I.
I just.
Like all the, the certainsoaps that I use to dissolve all
those products on the car.
Like, it took me one example,it just took like two and a half
hours just to wash it.
And then I could start seeing.

(26:03):
Yeah.
Because I could start seeingall these imperfections in the paint
and where they've touched up.
And it's just.
Yeah, it's just.
Yeah.
And that's the reason why Inever buy a car off the showroom
floor.
Yeah.
Because.
Yeah.
You know.
Yeah.
I remember a few years.
A few years back, I don't.

(26:24):
I don't remember when it was.
It was a while back.
We went to the Acuradealership because Michelle was thinking
about getting an mdx.
Okay.
Or an rdx.
I can't remember which one.
So we, we went to the Acuradealership and we're, you know, she
was test driving, seeing whatshe liked.
And I remember we walked inthe showroom and they had a brand

(26:46):
new, like, 65,000MDX sittingin the showroom.
Black.
Beautiful.
Right.
And we walked.
We walked by and like,Michelle nudges me and I'm like,
what?
And she's like, points at the hood.
Right.
Because I, I wasn't evenpaying attention.
I was just like, you know,we're not buying a car today.
Like, why are you dragging meout here?

(27:07):
Kind of thing.
Yeah, she just wanted to seeif she liked it.
And, and so she nudges me andpoints at the hood.
I look at it, you know, andlike the real nice, you know, recessed
light that they had in theshowroom to shine down on the cars
and everything was just agiant, like, swirl spider, you know,
like it just, you know, the,the swirl marks go out from the light.

(27:29):
Yeah.
So I start laughing and, andthe sales guy's like, oh, you know,
something, something up.
And I, I said, I'm a detailer.
I own a detail business.
She was just showing me the hood.
And he goes, yeah, he goes,our detail department's really bad.
So I handed him my card and Iwas like, well, if you want me to
come fix that for you, like,here's my car.

(27:49):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
He's like, he's like, youknow, and, but again, like, they
don't do.
The dealership doesn't dotheir own detailing.
They hire out, theysubcontract out to a company that
hires detailers or whatever.
So.
Yeah, but it was funny.
I gave him my card anyways.
I was like, if you want me tofix that for you, I'll come fix it.

(28:11):
Yeah, yeah, I know.
It's that, that I find thatjust, you know, mind boggling with
those sort of results, whatyou just explained.
Because I've even had peoplelike invite me to them, with them
to go to the dealership andthey invite me because I like, hey,
Mark, I'm going to buy a new car.
Could you come with me to thedealership and have a look coin out.

(28:31):
On the bad shit.
Yeah, yeah.
It's just that, yeah, I'vecome across really interesting stuff
about that.
That's.
That sort of issues and someof the techniques that they using
there.
I don't know whether it'stechniques that they, it's them or
it's the materials that they buy.
It's what's causing all this stuff.
And like, I used to work in adealership too myself, and it's,

(28:55):
I think with all the productsthat they buy, it's still like 1980
for them.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
It's not, it's not, you know,21st century stuff at all.
It's, it's all bulk.
It's all, you know, buy asmany as you can because it's cheaper
that way.
And, and then, yeah, that'show we're going to look after cars.
Like that, well, that's,that's even like, Jason, so.

(29:17):
Jason, I don't know if he toldyou, he started working at a Porsche,
Audi BMW dealership in Ohiojust to, you know, get his chops
back up and everything.
Yeah.
And I remember the first dayhe, he started, he called me up and
he's like, dude, he's like, Ithink, I think they have one wool
pad that's been here since the80s to like, to like, you know, buff

(29:39):
cars with or whatever.
And I was like, are youkidding me?
He goes, dude, this thing islike, rock hard.
I'm sure it's scratching carsmore than it's.
Yeah.
You know, doing good, youknow, but he got in and, and, and
I think he's, you know, kindof talked to some people and, and
they've, you know, he's likeslowly edging them into like, you

(29:59):
know, some, some newer stuff,at least.
New stuff, right?
Like, new.
Yeah.
Thing versus, like the oldstuff that they were using.
Yeah, but yeah, I mean, I,that's, that's how I, I, I see it.
And the, the other thing too,like, I kind of will give dealership
detailers maybe a little bitof leeway is sometimes they just

(30:20):
don't have the time.
Like, you know, the car, it'sgotta go, whatever, because, like,
I've got one of my goodfriends, he is a sales rep for Simon
Ice brand here.
And, and okay.
And so a lot of his clientsare dealerships and car washes, and

(30:40):
then he has some like, detailshops and whatnot.
And, and, you know, they, theysend him there to train these guys
on how to use the Rupesmachine or the Flex machine, you
know, and use all theirproducts or whatever.
And then he'll show up like aweek later and these guys are just,
you know, old school, slappingon and he's like, what happened?
And they're like, we don'thave time to do paint correction

(31:03):
or polishing.
Like, we just gotta run overit, you know, with some kind of polish
that's probably got a ton offillers in it.
Make it shine.
Yes.
Get it out the door kind of thing.
Yeah.
Like, to the point to where,like when they sell ceramic coatings,
they don't even apply theceramic coating.
They just rip the, thewarranty out of the box, fill it

(31:23):
out and hand it to the personbecause we don't have time to apply
it.
Like, we just, we just put awax on it.
We give them the warranty andsend them on their way.
And I'm like, yeah, yeah,that's ridiculous.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Exactly.
Exactly.
Right.
Exactly.
Right.
Yeah.
Because sometimes, even today,still, car yards, they're throwing
some sort of coating on there.

(31:43):
But what's funny is that,like, for example, when I use.
When I wash their cars onthat, I can still see where they've
applied the coating.
Oh, yeah.
The way they've applied the coating.
So they haven't even appliedit smoothly at all.
They've just waved it on andin that certain light, and then there's
certain liquid on the paint.
It just.
It just shows a reflection oftheir quality.

(32:07):
So, yeah, it's a.
It's just a very interesting industry.
Yeah.
Of what is going on in thatbackground there.
Yeah, yeah.
As you said, it's just.
I think it's a time issue.
Yeah.
But what gets me is that whenpeople spending, you know, hundreds
of thousands of dollars onthese vehicles, but these vehicles

(32:28):
have been treated like cattle.
Yeah.
You know, at some, you know,cattle station that's in the outback
somewhere.
And then it comes to the cityand here you go.
Here's your car presented.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
It's just not a very nicefeeling, but, yeah, you know.
Well, that's like the first.
The first Ferrari I ever did.
You know, I was.

(32:49):
I was like, oh, my God, myfirst Ferrari.
Yeah.
You know, and.
And the client brought it, youknow, ordered it.
It was a.
The Portofino.
Oh, okay.
When the Portofinos first cameout, and I think that was like 20,
18, 2019 or whatever, right?
Yeah.
He.

(33:09):
He brought it straight fromthe dealership.
I mean, it had, like, I don'tknow, 50 miles or something on it.
Yeah.
Drove it from the dealershiphome, brought it to me.
Yeah.
Said dropped it off on aMonday morning.
He's like, it's all yours.
I'm going to Chicago for the week.
I'll be back Friday.
And so I was like.
I was like, man, this is gonnabe a breeze.

(33:31):
It's a Ferrari.
It's brand new.
Like, man, that thing was allkinds of up, like, pigtails.
Yeah, yeah.
All around the rear tail lights.
And what's funny is, because,you know, it's the hard top convertible,
so that the place that Ithought was going to be absolutely
easy breezy was like, when the.

(33:53):
When the rear glass folds up,you know, for.
For the thing.
For the.
For the top.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, like, the rear glasslifts up and then the thing opens
up and it folds.
Yes.
And goes back down.
I was like, oh, that area isgoing to be a breeze, because that's
Technically, inside the car.
That was the worst part of thecar, with all kinds of sand marks

(34:15):
and swirly marks and all.
Yeah.
I spent more time correctingon that than I probably did the door.
And it was like, you know,half the size.
So.
Yeah, that was the first timethat I was like, wow.
Like, you really.
People are really, you know,paying 250, $300,000.
Yeah.
Ferraris.
And they come out of thefactory looking like.

(34:36):
Yes, you know.
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
I've had similar experiencestoo, as well, where there's a lot
of money's been spent, but the.
The results on the car are notquite there.
Oh, why.
Why this is happening, I don't know.
But, like, one brand like Lamborghini.

(35:00):
Yeah.
As.
As you were saying, like thepigtails and all that.
I've seen a lot of those on.
On cars like that.
Yeah.
Why they do that, I.
I just don't understand.
And not only that, but if acar's been resprayed.
Not resprayed, but if it'sbeen painted at a factory, why does
it come out like that?
Like, if it should be comingout perfectly with the finish.

(35:21):
Yeah.
But then why put implementscratches on it, you know?
Yeah, well, I think so.
Like, I saw one of those,like, discovery channels, like, how
it's made or something likethat one time.
Yeah.
They were doing.
I don't remember what exoticcar they were doing, but there was
a quarterly.
A quality control person thatwould go around.

(35:43):
Yeah.
And, you know, like, oh,there's a nib here, or there's a,
you know, whatever there.
And so they would sand it downand polish it out real fast or whatever.
So I think a lot of it isprobably just due to that.
But you would still thinkthat, like, Ferrari or Lamborghini,
like.
Yeah, they.
You would think that theirpaint booths or their paint areas

(36:06):
would be of a better qualityto not get any kind of, you know,
dust or debris or whatever.
Yeah, yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I just find that fascinatingwith that sort of result on that.
On that sort of money on a carlike that.
Yeah.
I've.

(36:27):
I've also worked in the pastwith Esoteric, with Todd Cooper.
Yep.
Yeah.
I'm one of his graduatestudents there, too, as well.
And, yeah, Todd's had a lot ofFerraris come over in his shop and.
Right.
Yeah, I was really amazed the.

(36:47):
The.
The finish on those carsbefore Todd starts work on those
cars.
And.
Yeah, it's just, you know, alot of money.
But then, yeah, the Resultsare just.
I don't know what's going onat the factory there.
Yeah, it's.
I mean, I guess they make race cars.
They're not supposed to bepretty, I guess, or whatever.

(37:10):
Just the sound, just the sandin the fast.
That's it.
Just buy another expensive one.
So we can afford the, theLewis Hamilton contract.
Yes, yes, yes, exactly.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I heard they offered him likea hundred million dollars for like.
Was it $100 million for 10 years?
No, $100 million a year forhis contract.

(37:31):
Ferrari.
Oh, okay.
But you know what's crazy islike, so as soon.
So, so the thing that I readwas as soon as they announced that
he was coming to the team,their stock went up like.
Oh, okay.

(37:51):
Basically they, they made likebillions of dollars in, in the stock
price going up just byannouncing Lewis Hamilton.
So I guess if they got offerhim a hundred million a year to get
billions of dollars in return,that's a pretty good trade off, I
guess.
Oh, well, yeah, of course it is.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(38:11):
Although, I mean, he's at theend of his career, so how good's
he gonna do?
I don't think he's gonna getthe eighth world Championship.
I don't know if you're aFormula one guy, but I, I just don't
think he's gonna get the eight.
I don't think you're going to Ferrari.
He's going to give him theeighth world Champion.
That.
Yeah, I don't really followthe Formula one.
I mean, I, I sort of see itwhen it comes on that.
But I'm not, I'm not a fanaticor anything like that.
Yeah, that's, that's my jam.

(38:33):
I'm like.
Yeah, I'm, I've been Jones andlike, football over.
Football's over now here inthe States and I've got.
What do we got?
I think like three more weeksor something until Formula one starts.
So I'm kind of.
Oh, okay.
Kind of cracking out right now.
Like, I don't have anything todo on the weekends.
Like.

(38:54):
All right, okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah, yeah.
On weekends.
I'm still working on weekendsand all that.
Oh, do you just.
Yeah, yeah, I work on weekendsand all that.
So do you work seven.
You said you work seven daysor you just kind of work it as it
comes?
So if you got to work a weekend.
I work.
Yeah, I work.
I work basically seven days.

(39:14):
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah, I get people, youknow, you should charge more and
this and all that sort ofStuff, but I just, yeah.
As I'm sort of happy to justbe in a job, you know.
Yeah, no, I got you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because I mean technically Iwork seven days because I do have
like, I have three maintenanceclients that I take care of on Saturday.

(39:36):
But I mean, like, I start at8:00 in the morning.
I'm usually done by like10:30ish or so.
Yeah, you know, it's, it'sthree cars that I do weekly, so they're
not terribly, you know, dirty usually.
And then I do have one clientSunday morning, so I go, yeah, 8:00,
I, I, I get him taken care of.

(39:59):
I'm usually back home before 9:00.
The kid's not even up by then,you know, the wife's barely out of
bed at that point.
It's like, yeah, like, like,you know, I feel like, yes, I work
seven days a week, but at thesame time, like two of those days
are really only for an hour or two.
So.
Yeah.
But I try not to schedule toomuch more and unless, unless it's

(40:24):
good money.
I mean, if somebody wants topay me for a correction and coding
and the weekends only kind ofwork for them, then typically my
rule is like, you know, aslong as we're not doing anything,
you know, then I'll do itbecause I'd rather make money versus
sitting on the couch doingnothing all day.
Yeah, of course.
Yeah.
So, yeah, or, or wherever thewife would want to drag me around

(40:48):
to, you know, rather get outof that and go make money.
But, but yeah, I mean like ifwe're not doing anything like family
related or, or any of Haley'slike cheerleading stuff or, or whatever,
I'll, I'll go anymore weekend.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm, yeah,I'm the same.
I'm the same.
Yeah, I try to, I try tobalance family life for that too
as well.
Yeah.
Because yeah, I mean you canwork, you know, all hours of the

(41:11):
day, but still at the end ofthe day it's still family.
Yeah.
But yeah, it's just findingthat balance, that's all.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's one of the things thatI really, I really tried to promote
here on the, the podcast overthe last year, five years now almost
that, this, because I see somany of the, the younger guys, you

(41:35):
know, that are burning thecandle at both end, you know, they're
in the shop till 2, 3 o'clockin the morning to get a car out so
that we can get the next onein and, and it's yeah, it's like,
I mean, you're just gonna,you're just gonna, you know, burn
yourself out so much earlier,you know, and I've seen it.
I've seen so many people thataren't in the industry anymore now

(41:56):
because, you know, when theywere younger, it was just, it was
a grind, grind, grind, grind, grind.
And then.
Yep.
You know, now they're not evenin it anymore.
So.
No, no.
Yeah, that sort of, that sortof work there, you can get caught
up in it.
Get caught up in it.
And it's very hard to slow down.
Like I'm trying to slow downand you know, sometimes say, no,

(42:20):
I'm sorry, I can't do it, youknow, because, yeah, like, I want
to keep working.
I don't want to just drop dead.
Yeah, exactly.
On the job.
Because some people, somepeople have mentioned to me that
one day I'll just die in thedriveway, in someone's driveway because,
you know, it's just, it's verylabor intensive job sort of type
thing.

(42:40):
I mean, we want to try, as theold saying goes, you know, work harder,
don't work harder, work smarter.
Yeah, yes, I, I totally get that.
But then, you know, at the endof the day, your results show on
people's vehicles.
Yeah.
And that, that to me, that tome is my promotion is going through

(43:01):
like word of mouth and thingslike that.
Right.
That's more important for meis looking after people.
The money, the money thing is.
The money thing will come eventually.
Yeah, right.
At the end of the day, it'slooking after people because, and
as I said before, you know,people, the cast, clients and things
like that, they're, they'relike my boss, my bosses.

(43:23):
And, and for me, it's, I tendto call, you know, my business is
a bit like running a circusthat's just coming to town.
You just don't know how manypeople will be in your audience every
day because, you know, oneminute it could be a full house and
next minute it could be just amatinee show.
Oh, yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah.
You know, but yeah, the, theresults have to speak for themselves.

(43:47):
And, and you know, I'mprepared to sacrifice it in, in any
way.
Yeah, and that's the thing.
I mean, like you said, work,work smarter, not harder.
But sometimes even workingsmarter, you're still working hard
at it, you know.
Oh yeah.
There are ways to kind of do,you know, maybe a more efficient
job in detailing.

(44:08):
But I mean, at the end of theday, it's, it's, you know, the key
Word is details.
You know, like, yes, you'restill, you know, having to make sure
that you're getting all thelittle, you know, tedious places
and, and things like that.
And so, so even if you do worksmarter, you're, you're still working
hard to an extent.

(44:29):
Because again, you know, Imean, polishing is, is.
It's the one thing I, I enjoythe most because I feel like that's
the, the most gratificationfrom before and afters.
Yes.
But at the same time, like,it's just a lot of, you know, kind
of hunched over or, you know,reaching high, you know, or whatever.

(44:54):
And it's, it just, you know,by the time I get done and I go home,
like, you know, my body justis, is a wreck, you know, and so
that's why I don't typicallylike to do more than one, you know,
correction job a week because.
Yeah.
You know, when I, the, thetimes that I have done too, like,

(45:15):
you know, the next week I'mkind of out, you know, like.
Yeah, yeah, achy, you know, assoon as you sit down, like everything
just locks up on you and.
Yes.
And again, I'm not getting anyyounger, so.
No, same here.
Same here.
Alex.
Yeah, I, I've somehow becauseof, because of sort of like I have

(45:38):
a lot of regular work all thetime because over the years I've
picked up clients and thenthey say, well, look, can you come
every week?
Can you come, you know, youknow, every two weeks or whatever?
I'm, I'm looking after moreclients like that now in the sense
compared to polishing, becausepolishing for me was a calming effect

(46:01):
on me.
I came from an industry.
My background is I'm a trade printer.
So I did it for 32 years and Iwas like, even in, even that job,
I got burnt out, you know,working hard, working 60, 70 hours
a week.
And I would use polishing asa, as a relaxant sort of type thing.

(46:27):
And I really enjoyed it and itwas, it was just a calming effect
for me.
But then when I started doingit, when I left my job to do detailing
full time, I realized like,you know, this is putting a pounding
on my body sort of type thing.
Yeah.
You know, as you said, beinghunched over and then working long

(46:49):
hours and things like that,you, you feel the pain in the next,
you know, a couple of days.
Yeah.
And not only that, but also tohealth wise, you know, you have to
sort of like look afteryourself, like what you eat and then
resting and things like that.
So.
Yeah, there's that aspect tooas well.

(47:10):
It's not just, you know, doingthe job and, you know, and hope the
best sort of top thing, butit's looking after yourself.
You want to look afteryourself, you can keep on going,
you know.
That's the way I look at it.
Like that.
No, no, for sure.
Yeah.
And you're right.
It is, it is a calming effect.
It's, it's, it's kind of interesting.
So I got introduced at MTE toone of Aaron Knox's clients, slash,

(47:38):
I guess, students.
So he introduced us to agentleman that has been taking paint
correction trainings from himfor a little while now.
And this gentleman is aneuroscience or neurosurgeon.
And, and Noxy was telling methat, you know, cleaning his cars

(48:04):
and polishing them andeverything is, is just a calming
effect for him.
So when he wanted to do it, hewanted to learn the correct way to
do it and do it.
Right.
So he reached out to Noxie andhe, and he goes, I think like once
a month they, they spend aweekend together and.
Right.
Noxy teaches them how to, youknow, wet sand and paint correction

(48:26):
and all that fun stuff.
Yeah.
So it's, it's, it was kind ofa neat experience.
And, and it's, it's kind of cool.
He's, he signed up for ourAquatech training at the beginning
of next month that we'reactually doing at Noxies.
So he wants to come and.
Okay.
Even though he's done paintcorrection training with Noxy wants

(48:48):
to come and, and do that.
And he's even, he's evenalready laid down some Aquatech,
but he still wants to comeand, and kind of learn it from us
and everything.
So.
Yeah.
So I think that's going to bekind of a cool thing because he's,
he's an older gentleman.
He's probably way smarter thanall of us that are going to be in
that, that training, you know.

(49:08):
Right.
So, you know, but, but, butagain, like, it's neat that, you
know, somebody of, you know,that level and doing that career
finds doing this, you know, a,a calming effect or a therapeutic
effect or something like that.
Yeah.
And, and at the end of theday, I really think it's what or

(49:31):
why a lot of us do it.
I mean, it's the same for me,you know?
Yeah.
You know, I always tell peopleall the time, like, I put my headphones
on and, and the only thing Ihave to worry about is that, you
know, one by one, two by twopiece of paint that I'm Working on
for that period of time.
That's, that's, yeah, my onlyworries, my only troubles, my only.
Whatever.

(49:51):
And then when you, when youget that, that, that really good
before and after, you know,then it's, it's calming and it feels
good.
Yeah, it sure is.
It sure is.
I tend to find with paincorrection, it's, it's a bit like
sitting down on a large tableand you're putting a puzzle together
because there's a calming.
And then you're using yourmind too at the same time and just

(50:17):
doing one section panel at a time.
And then after, at the end ofit, seeing all those pieces of panels
come together and the car.
Yeah.
Just looks amazing out of this world.
Yeah.
And then the whole picturejust comes together.
Yeah.
I used to kind of say the samething about ppf for as much as PPF
used to stress me out,actually laying it on the car.

(50:40):
Yeah, I, I enjoyed because itmakes you think, you know, like,
okay, how, where do I pull,where do I need to stretch, how do
I need to move it, you know,align it and all that stuff.
So yeah, it.
To me that was very much likesitting down and doing a puzzle because
it, it really made me think ofhow do I do all this stuff.

(51:04):
So, yeah, it can be, can bevery, very fun.
The paint correction and theppf, although the, the whole like
printing out the PPF and thenweeding it, that, that was just,
it was too stressful for me.
I, I couldn't.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I, I'm.
I'm probably in the, in thesame boat as you, Alex.
So currently now I'm learningto do ppf.

(51:27):
So I go and pay to geteducated with the ppf.
So I, last year I, I was goingto go to sema, but then I decided
to go to Stack.
So I went to the, theheadquarters there and started learning
about ppf.

(51:47):
And then also too, there's anagent here for Stack here in Australia.
So I followed the actual guythat does the training and all that.
So I'm still doing that still.
I won't call myself a PPFinstaller yet, but, you know, but
yeah, until I'm 100%, yeah, Ijust do it.
And then I might do it likethree, four times a year because

(52:09):
I just want to know everyaspect of it, you know, like the
material, how's the material?
Is it, how does it, Is it, howpliable is it?
Right, yeah.
All these other techniques andthen the chemicals that go with that.
Because I also look aftervehicles that have PPF currently

(52:29):
now at the moment and washingthem and things like taking care
of the, of the film is anotherimportant factor too as well, so.
And using the right productstoo, of course.
And that's more.
That's.
Yeah, that's, that's importantfor me.
And yes, this year again, Iwill invest more money on education,

(52:53):
on PPF too as well.
That's cool.
So, yeah, doing the ppf, doingthe, the esoteric thing, doing the
rupes economy.
Do you, do you set aside likemoney every year to do some sort
of training or is it just kindof like as it, as it comes up?

(53:13):
Yeah, I set aside money everyyear because you just never know
what's happening around thecorner in our industry.
Yeah, like, I've been to otherplaces too as well.
Like, I remember when I thinkone of your guys from your, from
your state there many yearsago, Gary Dean.
Okay.

(53:33):
Yeah, Gary Dean, the.
The guy with the, the one soapthat he.
I've heard his name before andit's, it's.
We actually.
So I actually reached out tohim one time and tried to set something
up to have him come on thepodcast and then it never.
And we, we went back and forthfor a few days and then just never

(53:58):
panned out, so.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, he.
Yeah, right.
Okay, interesting because he,he flew to Australia back in.
I think it was, yeah, 2000, Ithink 2013, I think it was, or 2014.
And yeah, we spent timetogether with a bunch of guys here,

(54:19):
you know, just learning allaspects of polishing things like
that on, on his techniques.
And then after that.
Yeah, I also went to Maguire's headquarters.
There was a big event therewith the NXT in 2014.
There was Kevin Brown andMichael Stoops and j.
Well, Jason Rose, I think he.

(54:41):
Yeah, because he was there.
Yes, yes, yes.
I met Jason Rose before, likemaybe a year or two before that where
I just wanted to drive pastthe, the Maguire's headquarters there
in California and MichaelStoops there.
He introduced me to theworkshop that they got there and
all that stuff, which was exciting.
And then.

(55:02):
Yeah, I just.
Yeah, I heard about the NXTand I just flew back to the US Again.
That was a, that was a great event.
I remember Larry from Ammo.
He was there.
Okay.
Yeah, and there's a couple ofguys, Joe and all that sort of stuff.
Fernandez, he was there too aswell, assisting around and yeah,

(55:24):
had a, had a great, greatweekend there.
I managed, I spoke.
I remember ringing up Kevinand say, Kevin, I've got a black
BMW that I'm, I'm renting.
Can we use that for the class?
I think that'd be great forthe class.
A black car and.
Yeah, yeah, sure, bring itright over.
Yeah.
So the rented car looked likea brand new rented car by the end

(55:46):
of the weekend.
And yeah, it was, it was afantastic moment.
I've also worked with MelCraig from the Detailing pros as
well.
Yeah, he, he came to Australiatoo as well.
He's also.
He revivify, right?

(56:07):
Yes, yes, yes, that's right.
Yeah, he's the, the USdistributor for Ravify.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He's, yeah, very good in histechniques and things like that.
He spent with us for a weekand then the guy here for detailing

(56:29):
prize in Australia, Darren.
Darren gave him a bit of atour around Australia for a drive
and things like that.
And yeah, there was anotherexciting moment and then flew back
to the US again.
And as I said, I was withEsoteric, with Toka.
Brighter.
Yeah.
Is that where you met Jason?
Yes, I met Jason for the firsttime there.

(56:50):
Yeah.
And yeah, Jason was assistingwith Todd at the time.
Right.
In the class and all that.
We did a, I remember in classwe did a black Cadillac, brand new
Cadillac there as part of the class.
Yeah, that was fantastic tooas well.
We paint corrected and on abrand new car, mind you, and coded

(57:12):
the car back then.
Nice.
Yeah, yeah, very interesting.
No, it's cool.
Yeah.
So, yeah, it's always, youknow, learning something and, and
also, also too part of the IDAtoo as well.
So, you know, I've been, beenthere nearly, what, nearly 10 years
now?
I think.

(57:32):
So.
Yeah.
Always trying to, you know,keep keeping up with everything what's
going on.
Yeah, no, that's, that's,that's very, that's very cool that
you do that because it's, youknow, one of the things that I, I've
kind of talked about recentlyand, and I usually always bring up
my buddies, Kyle and Jerry.
Yeah.
Because those guys like planevery year for, for trainings.

(57:57):
You know, they, they, they setaside money almost kind of like out
of every job they, you know,like a percentage of every job they
know they're going to setaside so that, you know, whatever
training, you know, whateverthey set aside this year is going
towards training for, for nextyear, whatever they set aside last

(58:18):
year will go towards trainingthis year.
And, and that's one of thethings that I've kind of, you know,
been trying to say in thispodcast, you know, when it comes
up so that maybe people willkind of Hear it repeatedly.
Is, is that's the easiest wayto do a training.
Like, we all, you know, we seethese trainings and they're $1200

(58:40):
or $1500 or $2000, whatever.
Yeah.
And, you know, it's a goodtraining because it's not the guy
doing a training for $300, youknow, like, I feel like, got to look
at it like the ceramic coatings.
Like, if you're selling theceramic coating for $2,000, you know,
you're getting a good job.
If the guy's doing it for 300bucks, you know, it's a coating.
Right.
So the same way withtrainings, like, we got to look at

(59:02):
it the same, the same way.
But I always, but I always getthe, it's not just that money for
training.
It's the travel cost, it's thefood cost, it's the rental car costs,
it's the being away from theshop cost.
You know, now I'm not makingmoney kind of thing.
So.
That's.
Right.
So that's why when I firststarted talking with, or when I,

(59:24):
when I had talked with, withJerry and Kyle and they said, like,
yeah, like, I just, I plan,you know, x amount of, you know,
whatever dollars from everyjob that I can put away into a, into
a training, like kind ofsavings account or whatever.
So that way then I know, okay,I saved $5,000.

(59:44):
Okay, I can do, you know,maybe two trainings this year or
I could do one training thisyear or whatever.
And I think that's superimportant because I, I, the more
that I've gone these past fewyears up to Knox Season, done trainings
with him with differentcompanies and stuff, the, the time

(01:00:05):
I went to Gloss Universityand, and then just talking to people
and what they learn is, is it,it's definitely a good thing to do.
And that's, that's the onething I can never get with people
in this industry is, you know,people or detailers that don't go
to trainings or don't go toevents like Mobile Tech Expo or sema.

(01:00:26):
Yeah.
You know, or even some ofthese, like, little.
My buddy Will William Lara isdoing these detailing summit meet
and greet kind of things wherehe has, they do like some education
stuff and whatever.
I, I don't, I don't know howyou grow your bit, you know, how

(01:00:48):
you grow as a detailer, howyou get better, because if you're
not expanding your mind orexpanding your, your limitations,
you know.
So, yeah, I think it's, Ithink it's Great that you do that.
I think, you know, andespecially the fact that you're really
going places far away from you.
It's not just, you know, oh, acouple thousand dollar trip to the

(01:01:12):
US you're probably spendingmore money coming over here than
some people are making in ayear, you know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I, I just, I thinkthat that's.
I think that's really a coolthing that you're doing that.
And, and I, and I always, youknow, any of the people that tell
me like, yeah, I.
I want to learn more and I dothese things, I make sure I go these

(01:01:35):
places.
I look at them and go like,okay, those are the people that get
it, you know, and they'regonna do.
Yeah.
Like with the MTE education.
I.
What I find about that, likethere's so many topics.
Yeah.
On the education day.
And I wish maybe out of thatoutput of that, I wish maybe there

(01:01:58):
could be more in a sense.
Because you can't see all of them.
Yeah.
You know.
Well, I don't time.
So I don't know if they did itagain this year.
You might want to look into it.
But I know last year when,when I had Sheldon on the podcast
and we talked about it, theywere gonna start doing, I guess like

(01:02:20):
webinars of.
So they were going to recordand then have them on.
So I think like, if you, ifyou attended, if you paid for the
training day.
Right.
Then you got access to thechannel, the website, whatever.
So if you missed one, youcould just go watch the webinar.
Okay.
So you might want to look into that.

(01:02:42):
Yeah, Let me know if you can'tfind it because I'll.
I'll reach out to Sheldon foryou and.
Okay.
And see if they did that againthis year.
Because I know he said thatwas one of the things that their
biggest complaint.
And that's why they kind ofmoved, I think, so Education day.
I think starting last year,they actually moved it to Wednesday
and Thursday to give peopleenough time to.

(01:03:07):
Yeah.
You could do ex.
You know, so many classes onWednesday and then classes on Thursday.
Because I remember for thelongest time it was just on Thursday
and you had to try to likepick and choose, you know?
You know, and you're like,yeah, I want to go to both of these.
And they're both at the same time.
At the same time.
Different rooms or whatever.

(01:03:28):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So like I said, I think lastyear they started doing.
Started recording them so thatthey could put them online for a
webinar.
So I didn't I didn't get achance to ask him about it this year,
but if he can't find it, letme know.
If it's not on the, if youdon't see it on the website, let
me know and I'll reach out tohim for you.
Okay, I can find out.

(01:03:48):
Nice.
Thank you, Alex.
Thank you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And the.
So yeah, just going back tomt, the education.
The thing is, I look at itthis way.
If you're gonna spend time onsomeone else's car, which is not
your property.
Yeah.

(01:04:09):
And that car's worth a million dollars.
Yeah.
You better know somethingbecause the thing is like, yeah,
yeah, you're just gonna messyourself up.
And it's, yeah.
It's all about.
At the end of day, it's about education.
What.
You know, I sort of admire thepeople that, that, you know, go and

(01:04:29):
learn, how can I say, likeself learning, that's okay.
But right at the end of theday, if anything would happen on
that vehicle, at least in someways, you know what to do.
Because with education, I'mnot going to go ring up my, the teacher
that taught me, you know,every five minutes you gotta like.

(01:04:51):
I tend to say, okay, wellthat's what I learned.
Okay, let's see where I cangrow from there.
Right.
And, and try and use your mindand you know, and use your body too
as well to when somethinghappens, you try and fix it up, you
know, or.
And fixing up like not fixingsomething, then, then it's going
to fall off, whatever.
But like more like fixing itup and permanently good.
Like that as well.

(01:05:12):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
As long as it can be.
Yeah.
But yeah, yeah.
So at the end of the day.
Sorry.
No, no, I was gonna say.
And, and also with educationkind of comes of learning your limitations,
you know, because you know,how many detailers get into this
game and they go, you know,they get a phone call from somebody

(01:05:35):
with an F40, you know, I'mlike, oh yeah, I'll wash and detail
that.
You know, blah, blah, blah.
And you know, I probably wouldhave done the same thing, you know,
10 years ago, but now I'd belike, I don't know if I, you know,
I mean, I could probably doit, but I don't know if I want to
take that responsibility on afour and a half, five million dollar
car.
Right.

(01:05:55):
Yeah, yeah.
Is, is a bunch of differentcomposite pieces because correct.
If, if, if you.
It up, you just devalued thatcar a ton, you know, so.
Exactly.
I, I think, I think educationis Also learning your limitations,
what you're comfortable with.
You know, I mean, I, you know,I've gone to however many trainings

(01:06:17):
with Noxy on, on wet sanding.
You know, they're in the classon a, on a hood.
Yep.
No fear clients, of course.
Yeah.
R pulls in and I'm like, Idon't, I don't know.
You know, I'm afraid to it up.
So.
Yeah.
So, yeah, you know, I feellike too learn.

(01:06:39):
Learning your limitations isalso part of.
Of education.
And, and, and you know, Ithink there's a lot of people out
there that aren't educatedand, and they're doing stuff that
is.
Is above their limitations.
And, and that's why you see alot of these, you know, Facebook
posts like, oh, shoot, I did this.

(01:06:59):
How do I fix it?
You know.
Yeah, you know, that's.
Yeah, well, I've seen thingslike that on Facebook and all that,
which I don't like.
I don't.
I never sort of interactbecause you just never know what's
happening in the backgroundthere as well.
And there's nothing abouthelping people.
But the thing is, like, howdid it get to that stage?

(01:07:21):
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
And just going back totraining, like, I remember nxt, there
was Jason Kilmer there.
Jason Kilmer, he specializedin wet sanding, things like that.
That was, yeah.
Educational for me.
Another, another step in asense of understanding about wet
sanding.
Yeah.
And then also to another.

(01:07:42):
Another guy, Chris Larson.
I've taken a class with himtoo as well.
And then also too with Jasonand Chris together at the same time.
Yeah, yeah.
So it was very interesting.
You know, I remember we workedon some old Range Rover that had
really severe paint defects,but then, yeah, we just still made
it look brand new at the endof the day.

(01:08:03):
But, but you know, what itcomes down to is like it's not your
property.
You know, it's someone else'sproperty and you have to do your
best for that person, not foryourself, and make yourself look
great.
It's, you know, because likemy, these days, especially now with
new vehicles, I don't want topaint correct a new vehicle at all.

(01:08:27):
Yeah.
Due to the one.
The material that's.
That they throw on the, on thevehicle today.
The, the, the thickness of thepaint that, you know, that's on there.
Since probably 2017, I haven'tpaint corrected a, a new vehicle

(01:08:47):
like how I used to do itbefore because of these new paints
that are coming onto the, youknow, in our society.
I just run a one Step polishover them nowadays, I mean it's typically,
typically all they really need.
You know, you just want toremove the light defects.
And, and I tell the clientstoo, you know, I kind of, I kind
of educate them a little bitand I tell them like, look, there's

(01:09:09):
no need for me to do a twostep or a three step paint correction
on this with a head and allthat stuff.
I'm just going to take your,your paint, your clear coat down.
There's no need to do it.
And I let them know, like I'mgonna do a medium polish on it.
It's gonna have just enoughcut to get in, you know, any of the
minor imperfections out.
We're going to leave, youknow, maximum paint all left on your

(01:09:32):
car and then we'll put acoating on it, you know.
Yeah.
And, and I, I, I like tellingthem that because some of them are
kind of like, well, yeah, youknow, the other, other guy I talked
to said he's going to do likethis two step heavy paint CR Brand
new car doesn't need.
Go to a training.
Go to a train, you know.

(01:09:54):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Look, at the end of the daywhen new vehicles are coming off
the production line, I'veheard some really nightmares from
other, from other people wherethey've just started wet setting
on a brand new amg.
Like, why would you want to do that?
Like, you know.
Yeah, it's just, yeah, it'sjust ludicrous.

(01:10:17):
But no, these days I still, Isometimes think about the future
of detailing, that maybe we'llbe using special liquids in the future.
Yeah.
You know, to, to polish a carbecause the way how things are going,
you know, in the manufacturingindustry is manufacturers and using

(01:10:38):
weaker, less and anything,anything probably.
Like I feel sorry for themanufacturers in a sense because
it seems to be getting smallerand smaller and smaller and using
less, I, what could I say?
Like less ingredients in thematerials now until like a car just
probably, you know, you buy acar and then you throw it away.

(01:11:00):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I mean, Elon's already provenhe can sell, you know, all these
stainless steel Tesla trucks,no paint on them.
Maybe.
Yeah.
But manufacturers start goinglike, let's just, let's just throw
out stainless steel vehiclesand we don't, we could save money
on paint.

(01:11:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I saw on Facebook when thecybertruck came out and all that
that someone had alreadypolished the, the panels and became
like a mirror.
Yeah.
Like that, that probably bereally dangerous probably to you
know, like driving the Sunriseor sunset during the day?
Yeah, I mean, I, I, I thoughtto say, I mean it, listen, look,
it looked super cool.

(01:11:41):
I, I'm gonna admit that first,but secondly, I'm gonna just.
Why, I mean, I get, I guess ifthat's what the customer wanted,
but I mean, it's not, it'sobviously not going to stay like
that.
You know, it'll, it'll fade out.
You'll have to polish it againand it'll fade out and you have to
polish it again.
So, I mean, yeah, I mean, Iguess kudos to the detailer for,

(01:12:03):
Because, I mean, I, God, Ihope they made, you know, their hourly
rate on that because I'm surethat wasn't, you know, a quick, easy
job to do, so.
No, definitely not.
If they made their money offof it, then, then more power to them
and, you know, they'll makethat money continuously over and
over and over again.
But yeah, I, I don't know.

(01:12:23):
I mean, I haven't done one yet.
I, I, I probably wouldn't wantto touch one just because I feel
like those things, there'snothing you can do to them.
I mean, I feel like even theguys that are putting PPF and vinyl
on them, it's, it's stillgoing to, you know, discolor or rust
underneath or whatever, justkind of hiding it in a sense.

(01:12:46):
So.
Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
I, I think, I think, I thinkwith these sort of, you know, vehicles
and things like that, timewill tell, I think.
Yeah.
These results, you know,putting PPF over, you know, cybertruck
and things like that, whoknows what the glue could do to the,
to the, you know, the panel.

(01:13:07):
Yeah, there's all these otherfactors involved.
I've, I even saw somethingabout they've started rusting, but
that rust, I think it'sprobably contamination.
Yeah.
The truck's picked up andit's, it's only probably surface
rust, you know, that canprobably, you know, come off.
But yeah, just, you know,where the industry is going.

(01:13:27):
It's very interesting.
Yeah, it's very interesting.
What's going on?
I, I was, I think I wasreading an article, if I read it
correctly, that in the futurepossibly that panels would be printed
on.
Oh, wow.
So a machine, a machine thatprints color on a panel.

(01:13:49):
So that'll be interesting tosee what happens out of that, I guess
if I read the article correct.
Yeah, I don't know.
I mean, I, I think we're gonnabe okay.
I mean, I, I think back to,to, I don't Remember however many
years ago when I was stillworking at the car wash and Nissan
came out, you know, with theirself healing, self cleaning, self

(01:14:11):
whatever paint.
Oh, I remember that.
Yes.
Yeah.
I mean, it's still not on anycars, you know, so like, I think
we're gonna be good for a while.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, I mean, and listen, Imean, realistically, I, I'm gonna
be 52 next month.
Right.
I really don't want to bedoing this a whole much, a whole
bunch longer, you know?

(01:14:33):
Right.
I'm hoping for that sweetAquatech money to start kicking in
as we grow and then, and thenI'll just really only care if people
are buying Aquatech productsat that point.
Right.
If I can, if I can start, ifwe can start doing well enough at
Aquatech that I can stopworking in the shop or very minimal
in the shop.

(01:14:53):
Yeah.
Then for me it'll just beabout like buy the Aquatech products
and, and, and let's face it,at 52, what, maybe another 20 years,
15 years before then I'm likeretirement out of, out of everything
and won't really care whathappens anymore because I'll be that
old guy running my car throughthe car wash again because I'm not

(01:15:14):
gonna wanna, you know, haveto, have to, you know, wait for hours
for somebody to clean it, so.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Iknow, I know.
And then, who knows, there'llbe more, more, you know, new techniques.
Oh, yeah.
That time, who knows?
Yeah, exactly.
But yeah, it's so, it'd bevery interesting to see and all that,

(01:15:37):
but, you know, presently, youknow, I just keep on going and doing
the same thing at the moment.
Yeah, it's pretty much, Imean, we had Jason Rose on the podcast
couple years back and wetalked to him about, you know, kind
of AI and detailing with therobots and stuff because, I mean,
they do kind of have it now insome of the, some of the manufacturing

(01:15:57):
plants where the robots areactually polishing the cars and things
like that, but.
Oh, okay.
You know, he said as expensiveas those machines are, detail shops
can't afford them yet anyway,so we don't have to worry about losing
our jobs.
Yeah, no, no, no, not at all.
Not at all.
I mean.
Yeah, yeah.
What?
I, I think I saw something theother day.

(01:16:17):
They were advertising, I thinkrobot, robot arms to spray paint
in the, in the workshop now.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, yeah, that'll beinteresting to see.
Listen, I, I, I've become abigger fan of Chat GPT lately.
Like, the more that I yes.
The more that I find outthings that it can actually do for

(01:16:40):
me other than just answering questions.
You know, like, I was talking with.
@mt.
I was talking with Sasha from,From Germany.
And, and because they.
He was the one that wastelling me about the paint correction
competition that they run overthere for the last eight years.
So he messaged me on WhatsAppand was basically like, telling me

(01:17:02):
everything about the competition.
And then at the very end, itsaid, I hope this made sense for
you.
I ran it through Chat GPT as a translator.
Yeah.
I was like, I didn't know ChatGPT could translate.
So I went into Chat GBT and Ityped him back and I said, translate
in German.
Yeah.
Copied and pasted it to him.

(01:17:23):
He's like, your German is very good.
I was like, buddy, that wasChad GPT.
Thanks for.
Thanks for letting me know that.
Yeah, it's amazing.
I.
Yeah, I think I heard you saysomething like that in your last
podcast.
Yeah, yeah, I.
Yeah, I've been, I've been.
I.
I love playing with it, youknow, like, I love just asking it
some dumb, random question orwhatever and.

(01:17:46):
Right.
And having a conversation with it.
Like, I told my wife the otherday, I was, you know, like, I.
I saw some girl on.
On Tick Tock, she was askingit the question, did we.
Did we invent AI or did wediscover it?
And it was, it was like acrazy, like, explanation.
I was like, holy.
So, like.

(01:18:06):
Yeah.
So I went into chat.
Chat GPT and asked it the same question.
Basically gave me the sameanswer, just in a different kind
of tone.
Yeah.
And then went down a wholerabbit hole with Chat GPT about AI,
different timelines, themultiverse, you know, how real was

(01:18:30):
the Matrix or how, you know,the Matrix, you know, could kind
of be fit into all this.
It was a crazy.
It was crazy conversation thatI had with Chat GPT about all this
craziness that could.
Could be real, I guess.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Yeah.
I mean, I even asked it the.

(01:18:51):
I even asked it the Skynet question.
You know, I asked it if.
If.
All right.
I asked it if AI could everbecome, you know, to a point of.
Of self recognition.
All right, okay.
And create a Skynet scenario.
No, it told me no, becausethere's too many, like, factors of,

(01:19:12):
of checks and balances with humans.
Yeah.
And so it, it told me no, butI mean, give it a couple of years
and we'll see, I guess.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, there's some reallyamazing stuff out there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I I've been having funwith it.
I ask it.
Oh, you know, all the time.

(01:19:33):
Like, you know, I want to makesomething different for dinner and
I got this, this and that.
How can I make something?
And it'll give me, you know,it'll give me a recipe and directions
and, yeah, all that fun stuff.
So, yeah, I.
I'm on it all the time.
I've even started using it now.
So I found out.
So the last podcast I did with Thad.

(01:19:53):
Yeah.
I actually copied the linkinto Chat GPT.
Yeah.
And asked it to give me adescription for the podcast so that
I could use for social media.
Right.
So like in.
In seconds, it gave me adescription of everything that we

(01:20:15):
talked about.
Okay.
And then I was able to usethat for Instagram post.
Oh, okay.
I think, I think with AI it tries.
I think it's.
We need to be intelligent ofthe question that we ask for.
Yeah, yeah.
Which.
Which is pretty good in somesort of sense.

(01:20:37):
Yeah, yeah, it's.
You have to be specific whatyou want to ask, I guess.
And it's.
And it's crazy.
Here, I'll read you this onebecause people might.
Might enjoy this.
So.
So I asked it.
And.
And this kind of goes to your,like asking a smart question, right?

(01:20:59):
So I just asked it somethingstupid and random.
So I was like, tell mesomething really crazy that I might
not know.
So Chat GPT proceeds to tellme that in 1519, there was a dancing
plague in Strasbourg, modernday France, where hundreds of people
started dancing uncontrollablyfor days, and some even danced to

(01:21:22):
their deaths from exhaustionor heart attacks.
It started with one woman,Frank Trofia, who danced in the streets
for nearly a week.
Soon dozens of others joined,and within a month, about 400 people
were compulsively dancing.
Authorities believing the onlycure was more dancing, even hired

(01:21:43):
musicians to encourage it,making it worse.
The event remains a medicalmystery, but theories range from
mass hysteria to a toxic moldcalled urgot, which can cause hallucination.
Hallucination.
Hallucinations similar to lsd.
Jeez.
I mean, I did.

(01:22:04):
I've never learned that in any book.
Never.
Like, no.
The fun of Chat GPT just.
Yeah, random ass question.
And get a really cool.
The dancing plague.
Jeez.
Of 1518.
Yeah.
Oh, God.
Maybe that.
Well, maybe that womandiscovered something that we don't

(01:22:26):
know.
Yeah, maybe.
Maybe.
Jeez.
So.
So, yeah, so I'm having funwith Chat GPT.
It's.
It's really cool.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's great.
That's great.
Yeah.
Well, listen, Mark, it'sgetting kind of late here.
I know it's mid midday for youover there, but.

(01:22:49):
Yeah, nearly 1:30.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Listen, man, I appreciate youfor doing this, man.
It was a pleasure to meet youat mte.
I'm so glad that you knew Mikeand Jason for me to get that inter.
Introduction.
I'm glad that you, you know,did the.
The paint correction competition.

(01:23:10):
Yeah.
And had a blast and all that stuff.
I enjoyed our talks at mte.
I look forward to, you know,seeing you again next year.
No worries.
Alex, thank you so much forhaving me on the show.
Yeah, I just.
Yeah.
Really appreciate it very much.
Thank you so much for that.
No problem, buddy.
Well, listen, you have a greatrest of your day and we'll chat soon

(01:23:32):
because I.
I'm sure I'll message you some.
Some more stuff, so.
Yeah, no worries.
I look forward to it.
Alex.
Thank you so much.
All right, buddy.
Take care.
Take care, Alex.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Bye.
Bye.
Hey, if.