Navigating the Detailing Industry: Insights from the Experts

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You know, they're chasing thatdollar, they're trying to turn and
burn.
They want it out for the nextone and then they need that money,
you know?
And a lot of times people comeinto this industry as, you know,
wouldn't say an act ofdesperation, but a means to an end
for themselves.

(00:31):
Me.
What's up, dude?
Hey, man, how you doing?

(00:54):
Good.
I'm good.
Just figuring this whole thing out.
How are you, brother?
How's everything?
Oh, man, I am good.
How are you?
I'm well, man.
Is the audio good?
Can you hear me okay?
Yeah, I can hear you.
Okay.
I'm not late.
No, you're fine.
You're fine.
No, man, no, I, I, I'm trying to.

(01:19):
Dude, I'm super late to thegame, man.
I'm trying to, I'm trying to,like, be more social media presence
with my business.
Me too.
It's tough, dude, because I'mnot, I'm not like that.
I, I don't, I, I hate posting things.
I hate trying to think of.
So thank God for Chat GPTbecause I can go make me a post for

(01:48):
so, yeah, dude, it works well, man.
I mean, it's beneficial in apinch because then it just takes
the guesswork and the thinkingout of it.
It does, man.
You know, I mean, we did thatthing with Walt a couple weeks back,
talking about it.
I don't know if you caughtthat episode.
We talked about, like, thebenefits of using chat GPT for your
business and.
Yeah.

(02:10):
And, and I started playingaround like, I don't know, maybe
earlier this month or so,because my buddy who built my new
website for me was when wasreally talking about, you know, utilizing
YouTube and, and I know it'ssomething that Chris had talked about
for a long time with roadmapand everything, and I just like,

(02:32):
never really did anything.
And, and my buddy was like,dude, you do all these walk arounds,
you know, like, put them up asYouTube shorts, you know, just, bro,
quick, quick and easy, you know.
Oh, you got the glasses.
May as well just you, I mean,you ever, you ever, you ever see
SpongeBob SquarePants for Kids?

(02:52):
Watch SpongeBob or whatever.
Yeah.
You ever see where he gotthose glasses on?
He looks like he's netting upsome jellyfish.
I look like a damn fool.
But, you know, I think that'skind of beneficial if you're gonna,
you know, if, like, if youdon't want to pose and you want to
be live.
Yeah.
Something as silly as wearingthose glasses.
It's a POV kind of thing.
So it's like you can kind ofjust be natural, you know, talk about

(03:14):
what you talk about, you know,you know, correspond with a client,
your staff or whatever you'redoing or talk about, you know, what
you're doing, you know, howlike your face front, you know.
Yeah.
How's the audio quality on those?
Dude?
It's surprisingly nice.
I just got these the other dayand I set them all up and stuff and
like, you know, kind of playedwith like, you know, how to, how
to go through them and youknow, the volume settings and all

(03:36):
this other stuff.
And when the music came on, itwas like crystal clear.
It was like it was in my earwithout having to be physically AirPods,
you know.
Yeah, I like it a lot, dude.
It's, it's actually kind of cool.
Do I look goofy?
Yes, absolutely.
100.
I think it looks like a goof.
But in the same token, youknow, if you're like face fronting

(03:57):
something and you're trying toexplain or you know, kind of just
get some content going, it's,it's kind of beneficial, man.
I like it.
That might be an idea, man.
Like Michelle was talkingabout getting them.
She wanted them.
I don't know why because it'snot like she really like videos a
lot, but I don't know, she wastalking about getting them, but that

(04:18):
makes a lot.
I've noticed a lot ofdetailers now wearing them and using
them for different things and,and that's, that's a good, that's
a good point because my, mybiggest hang up is when I'm doing
the job.
The last thing I want to do isstop set my camera up, try to get

(04:40):
a good angle.
You know, to capture freeanymore, you.
Know, you have to slow yourprocesses and what you're doing to
kind of capture whatever'sgoing on.
Talk to your audience orwhomever it may be.
And this, it's just on yourface, you just go.
It's already doing the job for you.
And you don't have tophysically stare at your screen to

(05:01):
interact.
It's just people are justgetting what they're getting is be
of what you've got going on inthe day.
So I do like that part of it.
You know, I haven't reallyused them yet, but just the idea
of it and seeing how otherpeople did it.
Anthony Carrera actuallyshowed me these.
I think it was last SEMA orthe SEMA before.

(05:22):
He's like, dude, you got tosee these things.
And I wasn't too sold on itbecause Again, I look goofy in glasses,
so I was like, work for me.
But as a tool in a business, Isee it as a key benefit because if
you're really trying toshowcase something for an audience
or you know, or like mindedpeople or create some type of how

(05:43):
to video or something.
Yeah.
You can physically be hands onand doing what you're doing, staring
and you know, you don't haveto hold a camera or have somebody
be behind you with a camera.
Like I have my video guy hereright now and he could do all that
stuff.
But if I'm alone or he's nothere or I'm in a pinch or something,
I'm able to throw those thingson and create a short, do a video
or do a live stream orsomething like that.

(06:04):
I think it's kind of cool.
Yeah.
And it just, what, it justuploads to the, to your account or
something like that?
As far as I know, yes.
I mean, I could be 100.
I could be wrong on this.
Like I said, I'm still greenwith this like very green.
I have to look into.
Sorry about that.
I have to look into it then.
Because that does sound like agood idea.
Yeah.
Because like I started postingup these shorts, dude, and like the

(06:26):
last, like I'll do one likeevery other day or every third day
because I'm not high volume.
So like I don't have, youknow, a ton of cars in, in, you know,
every day to do videos on.
But dude, like the last eight,seven or eight videos that I've put
up as shorts are cranking like1400 views now.

(06:49):
See, that's nice.
Which is not bad.
And the thing is like, for me,I'm trying to.
I'm gonna get ready to startmonetizing my content.
Okay.
And I got a buddy who buildslike TikToks and TikTok platforms
and stuff like that, like thecreator program or whatever that
is.
Right, right.
So I do have my guy, Sergio,he shoots everything for us.

(07:12):
But in retrospect they'resaying that the video has to be over
a minute long and hopefullythe people engage the entire video.
So I try to make, createsomething that's captivating enough
to like keep your focus on that.
But I'm also learning that onlike YouTube and Instagram and stuff
like that, the shorts arewhere it's at.
Like people's attention spansaren't that long to sit there for

(07:33):
a minute.
I can tell you right now, Idon't watch a TikTok for a whole.
Minute for the most Part Idon't either.
Unless it's like a good funnylike sketch.
Correct.
Or it's something that'seducational or something that's gonna,
that's gonna give me a benefitor something that I'm intrigued by.
You know, I won't sit therefor a minute and watch it.
It just doesn't make sense to me.
So there's your cross thebear, your little double edged sword

(07:55):
there is like figuring out,you know, what audience you want
to capture.
Like if you're trying to dolike a how to video, I think a minute
long video would be nicebecause you're kind of explaining
the process of elimination on that.
But in the same token, if youhave a short something cool, little
background music, dope,editing, you know, 15.
What?
15, 30 seconds, something likethat is what they're saying.

(08:17):
Yeah, that's, that's what ChatGBT told me today.
Yeah.
Because.
Because usually my walk aroundvideos are like 30, 35 seconds and
then I'll just go into likethe music and I'll pick like a new
release, something that's notlike on a bajillion reels already
or stories already or whatever.

(08:38):
I try a little bit originality.
Yeah.
Try to pick something that's anew release maybe is, you know, under
a thousand.
I try to pick something thatis maybe by an artist that the name
I recognize because then Iknow like okay, well that's going
to be a big artist.
It probably will pop off downthe line.
So that might help.

(08:58):
But yeah, I mean that's,that's what I've been doing and I
even went into Chat GPT theother day and had it create a weekly
calendar for me of what, whattime to post every day, what platform
to post every day and likewhat to post whether it's a real

(09:19):
or a story or a post.
Yeah.
And so I've been.
They kind of help you tounderstand like where you get the
most engagement too.
Yeah.
Is by the time that you postit is where most people are either,
you know, I, I don't know whento post.
He, he probably has a betteridea of it than I do.
But you know, when I see it,I, you know, he sends it, I post

(09:40):
it.
You know, it's like, yeah,let's just get this done because
if I don't I'm gonna forget.
But yeah, he said like 6pm Isprobably the best our time.
So yeah.
Super early in the morning,like 7am yeah.
Yeah.
Chat GBT was telling me likemost days for me is like between
10 and 11.

(10:01):
Because people are, you know,that's usually when people are like,
settled in at work and ifthey're gonna look for.
Right, right.
And then now, is this by yourdemo or not your demographic, but
your geographical stance,like, where you're at physically?
Yeah, I did it.
It's crazy how chat GPT getsso deep into things, you know?

(10:21):
Right, right.
And.
And I mean, it's.
Over the time that I've beenusing it.
I mean, it learns.
So, like, if I say mybusiness, it knows Detail Solutions
Auto Spa.
If I ask it something for thepodcast, it knows Detail Solutions
Podcast.
If I say something for, youknow, the, the coding brand that
I work for, it knows Aquatech.

(10:44):
Yeah, it's crazy that I can,like, I, I don't have to specify,
like, make something forDetail Solutions Auto Spa.
Make something for DetailSolutions Podcast.
Make something for Aquatech.
I can just say, you know, hey,we've got a new product coming out.
I need a name for.
It does this thing and it'slike, Aquatech, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, and it'llgive me like 10 different name ideas,
you know, Or I can say, like,hey, for my business, I need a post

(11:09):
for whatever.
And it knows that it's theauto spawn.
It's not a post for the podcast.
So.
So, yeah, dude, it's crazy.
Like, and, you know, and overtimes I've asked different things,
like, what was it?
I just asked it a while back because.
Oh, because it was right afterwe did the thing with Walt because
Walt did a whole thing wherehe asked it the.

(11:34):
What was it?
Oh, shoot.
It was like the.
The demographics of, like, hiscity, you know, and it broke it down
to, like, the population, theaverage income.
And then, like, how he, youknow, how many competitors he had
and then how he could, youknow, target where his strengths

(11:58):
were, where his weaknesseswere against his competitors.
And then, hey, he could typein his competitor and it would give
the strength, strengths and weaknesses.
So he knew how, like, counterattack it with an ad or a post or
something.
So, like, I did that for, forhere for, like, the Sanford, Lake
Mary area.
So, like, now it knows, like,when I type something in, when I

(12:20):
say, give me, you know, createa post for a reel or something.
Like, it'll say, hey, LakeMary, Sanford residence.
You want your car to shine?
Like this one.
Like, and then like in thehashtags, it'll.
It'll, you know, CentralFlorida detailing, Lake Mary detailing,
Sanford Detail.
Like, dude, it's.
It's crazy, man.

(12:41):
We recently did a Textcampaign with your able.
And I utilized chat GPT forthat particular message.
I said, hey, you know, let'screate like a springtime, get the
crud off your car, yada yada yada.
You sign up first.
This many people get XYZ andthey created this really, really

(13:05):
solid text message.
And I mean I could send it toyou, I could share it to you, but
it was so well versed and theamount of characters that we needed,
I didn't have to go throughand thumb through and I'd have to
edit.
It was ready to go.
And I mean we fired it.
And you know, for every bit ofno's you get a yes.

(13:26):
Yeah, we got such goodengagement and feedback on that that
people were just likeresponding and responding.
Like I almost didn't know whatto do with myself for the moment
because I was like reallyoverwhelmed at like how cool that
that particular text messagetook off and the positive engagement
we got out of it.
And I think it was just theway it was worded because if somebody

(13:47):
like you and myself were toprobably, you know, I'm not saying
that we're, you know, belowlevel of like how to, you know, create
something like that, but Ithink if we would have worded it
ourselves, we probably wouldhave been a lot less engaged.
Exactly.
But the way it sounded likethe way I even read it, I wanted
to go call my own damn shop.
I was like, man, that's kindof co.
You know.
Yeah.
You know, I used to, I used totype out my text or my post or whatever

(14:13):
and then I'd put it in chatGPT and ask it to clean it up.
Right, sure.
And, and so like today I wastalking to my, my buddy who made
my website and you know, hewas kind of like, hey, it's starting
to really like kind of pop offin the searches.
Like, you know, I'm likenoticing, you know, it's, it's, you
know, getting so much better.

(14:35):
And he was like, are youseeing, you know, any kind of return?
And I'm like, well yeah, I'mgetting a, you know, I'm getting
some more calls than I was before.
I said the only problem islike I still kind of getting like
those bottom feeder calls, youknow, when, hey, I need my car detailed.
And I'm like, okay, cool.
Like, you know, our interiordetail prices start at 350, $400.

(14:56):
And it's like, oh yeah, exactly.
So he goes, so, you know, sohe was kind of saying, or we were
talking about that and hegoes, he goes you know, it'd be really
good blog post to do is whyinterior detailers are so expensive
and, and what goes into themand everything.
And I was like, okay.
I was like, well, you know,like, how do we write that?

(15:18):
And he goes, well, we don'twrite it.
He goes, go into chat GPT andask it to create a blog, a blog post
on why, why interior detailingis so, so expensive.
And he goes, and just give itsome ideas, like, right, like why,
like if you're trying toexplain it to a customer, why is

(15:39):
this such an expensive service?
You know, why does it takelonger than, you know, the guy says
he's going to come out andknock it out in 30 minutes and charge
100 bucks or whatever.
So like, I did that.
I said, create a blog post onwhy an interior detail costs so much
and here's the reasons why.
You know, knowledge ofinterior materials, cloth, leather,

(16:07):
plastics, carbon fibers,Alcantara, all this.
Which products are workingwith those and not going to damage
them.
I said, in odor removal, youknow, explain the differences between
ozone and chlorine dioxide.
Because I'm a chlorine dioxideguy, you know, And I said, it's illegal
to.
Do ozone in California now.

(16:28):
So now purely carbon dioxide now.
Nice.
So, you know, like I, youknow, and I used an example.
Like one of my clients tookher car to her Porsche to the dealership
and they did a free interior detail.
It was like two months ago.
She had to keep taking it backbecause they put an ozone machine
in it and it just has thatstale ozone smell.

(16:49):
So like, I, I, I told it aboutthat and then, you know, like some
other things.
And dude, it typed out thislike, beautiful, like, blog, like
kind of the same thing youwere saying.
Like, I'm reading it, I'mlike, holy, like, this makes me want
to pay money for, for aninterior detail now.
So, like, I sent it over to mybuddy and he's like, dude, I don't

(17:09):
need to change a thing.
He goes, I'm putting it righton, right on the website.
He goes, that's awesome.
Yeah, you know, it does kindof take the guesswork out of it,
but it also kind of like, itcheats us too, you know?
Like, I wouldn't say it takesout the genuine ality of the whole
entire post because it's likethese things are things that we have
invested ourselves in ourtime, our education, learning, the

(17:29):
years and years of trial anderror that we put in that we could
verbally use from our mouth.
People and kids and anybody atthis Point can use that and sound
extremely educated.
So there is that factor nowwhere people who don't understand
what we do as professionalscan utilize Chat GPT into their business

(17:52):
who don't have the experienceand ultimately either screw something
up or read into it really welland try to figure out, you know,
a way around that to makethemselves better.
Which is great.
If you could find a way tomake yourself better by reading through
a Chat GPT thing, wonderful,that's great for you.
But a lot of people probablyright now, you know, we're seeing
it around here.
You could totally tell whensomebody's, you know, they're, they're

(18:15):
fresh, they're green inbusiness, they're totally new, they're,
they're rocking Chemical guysall over their van.
But then they're writing theselengthy posts about what you should
be doing and how to's and thisand that.
And it's like, dude, you'reusing bottom of the barrel stuff,
you know, and not to say anything.
Paul's a great guy and therehe's got a wonderful company and.
Right.

(18:35):
They make killing in theretail side of things.
But that's not to me, in mymind, that's not professional.
The detailed product, that'snot professional work.
And I mean there's noexperience like hands on experience.
Yeah, there's nothing likegetting your hands dirty and learning,
you know, Chat GPT is notgoing to cut and polish your car.
Yeah, no, it's not.

(18:55):
You know, they're not, they'renot going to be able to figure out
what patent product to use toget you where you need to be or to
achieve the results.
Like today, one of my guys,he's good at what he does, but he
found himself in a pickle.
He sent me a text message, Iwas out of the office.
He said, hey, I can't get thishaze out of the paint.
I can't figure it out, you know.
And I had him cut the paintand you know, to get some aggressive

(19:17):
marks up.
But there's still wool marks,there was still something in the
surface and it created a hazenaturally, as it's going to do.
So I got back to the officeand I was like, okay, well let's
see what we got here.
He had three or four differentcombinations out.
He was just having a tough time.
I grabbed a yellow pad, Igrabbed some Koch Chemie microcut,
threw it on there, work thepaint through the cycle, slowed it

(19:37):
down, ran a final pass, wipedit clean, clear as day.
You know, it's just nothing issubstitute for hands on experience
or absolutely just looking ata surface and understanding what
it is that you're going to do.
Guys like you and myself, youknow, like we could look at a paint
system and know like I couldlook at a paint and be like, okay,
that's a Subaru that paintshard as hell.

(19:57):
We're digging out the bottleof rocks.
You know what I mean?
That's what we're gonna, it'swhat we got to do at this point.
Or you look at a Toyota or aLexus paint, you know it's going
to be softer.
A black gm.
Yeah.
You know, you, you ultimatelyyou, you identify and you know, where
some people who are neweragain don't understand that and are
just going balls to the wallon it and really essentially doing

(20:20):
more damage than good, doingmore bad than good, you know?
Yeah.
So and I think the, I thinkthe good point to it, of it, I mean,
you know, technically it's a tool.
It's a tool to help you and,and like you said, right, like you
know, you and I and, and youknow, majority of the, the detail
industry, we, we know how todo it.

(20:43):
We know the right steps, theright tools, the right whatever.
We just not all of us might beable to explain it properly to a
client.
Right.
So again, that's what I likedabout, about doing that is because
I could say write me the blogpost and basically give it all the

(21:04):
points I wanted it to hit onwithout verbally.
Being able to get it or type.
Right, right.
And it's gonna do it, youknow, in a way that is going to explain
all those points the way Iexplained it to chat gbt, but in
a cleaner, more professional,you know, maybe more educational

(21:24):
way than I would or.
In a way that somebody couldread it and relate to it a little
better than the way we can explain.
You know, there's, there'salways ways like, you know, kind
of like with like, you know,people who don't understand like
math a certain way, if it'sexplained a different, in a different
format, then people get it,you know, so the way we relate to

(21:45):
a customer and say it acertain way, but they can go read
it off a chatgpt t post.
Yeah, they, they relate to ita little bit better.
You know, it's easierexplained by them from us.
And that's the thing thatI've, I've noticed with you know,
detailers and, and, and myselfincluded, I've, I've been guilty
of it at times is you know,when we try to explain Things to

(22:07):
detailers, we are to clients.
We talk like detailers,surfactants and, and this and emulsifiers
and aluminum dioxide.
You know what customers like,what the are you talking about?
Like, you know, like, I just want.
My car clean, dude.
Yeah, you just gotta go like,look, man, it makes magic on the
paint and your car is going tolook shiny when it's done, you know,

(22:29):
like.
So again, I don't think whatthey're, I, I think a customer's
base expectancy isn't for usto over educate them on everything
we use.
And that's, you know, kind ofnow where you don't really.
How do I explain?
You know, it's not about, youknow, what you have, what you're
putting on.
I'm like, yeah, I'm putting alake country pad on this machine

(22:50):
and this.
Because they don't fucking know.
Yeah.
All they know is they'recoming in here for a service and
they're entrusting you thebrand who you've branded yourself
with to give them good work,quality workmanship and an excellent
product at the end of the day.
Yeah, you know, stellarresults, killer materials and what
you use.
Like I explained to mycustomers and I tell them I don't

(23:12):
spare expense on materials, Idon't spare expense on tools.
Just know everything that weput on your paint or your interior
is going to be the best of thebest, hands down.
You know, I don't, I don'tpick up things from your local part
stores or Walmarts or Targetsor, you know, anything like that.
Everything we use isprofessional grade.
And that's all I need to tellthem if they're inquisitive about
it.

(23:32):
But for the most part, when aclient does come into our facility
just by, just by overall sightand they look and see, they know
that they're getting, they'rein a professional outfit.
The aesthetic is there, thecurb appeal is there.
It's, you know, not just thelighting or anything like that.
It's just how we haveeverything laid out and formatted
is in an extremelyprofessional setting.
And they know what they'regonna get is a great product.

(23:55):
So there's need to not explaina lot of that.
But again, you also havepeople who are newer in business.
You have mobile guys who don'thave the brick and mortar or don't
have that curb appeal wherethey need to explain a little further
in order to sell that clientor you know, get that client to bite

(24:16):
on what they're selling.
So there, there definitely isthat factor I kind of got.
I kind of went down the rabbithole of what we were talking about.
That's the beauty of this isit's just conversational, you know.
Absolutely, man.
You know, I think, I thinkthat the customer's, you know, expectancy,
you know, that's what we weretalking about, you know, products

(24:38):
and things like that and, youknow, processes and eliminations.
I think more simplifying theexplanation of what you stand to
or what you are willing tooffer the client is easier than trying
to over explain that.
Because nine times out of 10,they say that in the first seven
seconds, a customer is goingto know if they're going to do business

(24:59):
with you by.
By the time your handshakeends, they already know whether they're
going to work with you.
Right.
You know, and that's key for me.
And in my place of business,customer service is everything.
We'll send lift cars to and from.
We'll give you a ride if weneed to.
You know, our front room isfull of snacks, coffees, teas, drinks,
water, sodas, you name it.

(25:20):
It's.
It's all about perception.
It's all about the customer service.
It's all about making themfeel welcome, you know, perceiving
value, creating a relationshipand giving them what they're asking
for.
For.
For me personally, you know,and this, I.
I don't speak for anybody else.
I speak for myself.
My customer comes before theircar, I want to.

(25:40):
I want to understand them alittle bit, see what, you know, makes
their gears turn, ask them alittle bit about themselves.
Do you have kids?
You know, what's your life like?
You know, that way before Ieven get into that, I already know
what the inside of their carsare doing.
Oh, I got four kids.
Oh, yeah?
How old are your kids?
Oh, three to ten.
Oh, we know what that's goingto look like.
You know, you kind of.
You gauge that before you getout there.
And then you're not like, oh,my God, look at the inside of your

(26:02):
car like y torch.
We're going to charge you anarm and a leg right now.
You kind of like subtly knowhow to move into that with them.
But at that point, thatcustomer already feels good enough
inside that you're going to doa good job for them because you already
taken an interest in them.
So that means if you've takenan interest in them, you're going
to take an interest in their vehicle.
You know, so that's my logicon it, you know, also, you know,

(26:24):
being open and offering and,you know, welcoming you know, that's
the idea is not to come into adirty, greasy garage, right.
Coming into a nice space whereyou feel comfortable.
You can have a seat, watchwhat we have going on on our screens,
you know, enjoy a cup ofcoffee while you wait for a lift
car or what have you.
Yeah, that's.

(26:44):
That's what my model of mybusiness is based around.
And not.
Not.
Yeah, that's a great way to doit because the way that I've always
thought is, you know, the bestcustomers are the ones that you build
relationships with.
You know, I mean, I learnedthat a long time ago in the car wash
because, you know, I worked inthe car wash for so many years that,

(27:06):
you know, you know, like whenI first started working, you know,
people were like my age, youknow, and then, you know, by the
time, you know, by the time I,I left, they're grown, married, got
kids, their kids are goingaway to college.
Like, you know, like you, you.
You build this relationshipwith these people.
So, so, you know, utilizing that.

(27:27):
When I started my business, Itried to treat people the same way,
like you said, you know, askthem what they do, you know, how
their family is when you see them.
And, and, you know, and that'swhere I've.
I've got this core group ofclients that, you know, are my bread
and butter, so to speak,because they, they always need something

(27:51):
done.
They're always buying new carsto get coded.
They're always wanting them tobe maintained, whatever.
So, like, I know, like, evenin slow times, I'm gonna have these
set people.
There's your fallback.
You can give them a call.
Right, exactly.
So, you know, that's thebeauty of it is, is don't just treat

(28:11):
them as, as a one and done or,or a client or whatever, you know.
Or, or a dollar bill or acredit card.
Right, right.
Build that relationship with them.
Yeah, there's.
I have a client who's got adiesel truck she just bought and
she wants to get it coded.
She was my client 15 years ago.
She was one of my first clients.
Oh, wow.
Talking with her probably two,three days ago, I was like, you know,

(28:34):
I've known her for that long.
I've never.
Since junior high.
She supported my business thesecond I opened my doors.
And she's always been a good friend.
You know, I was talking withher the other day, I was like, hey,
you know, how's the family?
How's everybody doing?
She's all, well, my second'sabout to graduate college and they're
buying a house in Arizona.
I'm like, holy.
She's like, yeah, I'm thinkingabout moving down there next year.
Now, mind you, I've knownthese kids since before my business
was open.

(28:54):
But to learn that, you know,after all these years of her still
being my client througheverything, that her kids are now.
One of them's grad.
The youngest is graduating college.
The oldest is out of college,and they're buying a home together
in Arizona.
And she's getting ready to jam.
She's like, I don't havenothing else here, Sean.
What am I gonna do?
I'm like, do you go be withyour kids?
Yeah, go start anew.

(29:14):
Open it.
Open a fresh chapter of life,you know, so for me, it'll be sad
to see her go because she'sbeen so consistent through the years,
but at the same, that's like,you know, that's graduating in life.
Yeah.
You've hit a new plateau.
You hit a new marker in life.
Like, you're to the point nowwhere it's like, you don't really
have anything keeping you here.
You can go explore and live and.

(29:35):
And do what you want be.
Be what you want to be, youknow, or find something anew or find
a new love out there, whateverthe case may be.
Right.
As for me, I can't really go anywhere.
I'm grounded here, you know,like business.
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(31:04):
Kids are, you know, my kids are.
One of them's headed to SanDiego State.
We were just down there acouple weeks ago, and I did a super
detailed grand opening.
She's going to San Diego State University.
So with the orientation andthat stuff, you know, I've got two
more that are in high school.
I have two stepdaughters andmy two boys.
My oldest is 23.
My second oldest is going again.

(31:26):
She's going to San Diego State.
And then I have two that arejunior or a sophomore and a freshman
in high school.
Okay.
So, I mean, we're well on theway of kind of moving them out, you
know, and get graduating themin life as well, and then, you know,
kind of figure out what I wantto do after that.
You know, I'm.
I've contemplated, you know,letting the kids have the business,

(31:49):
run the business, findingsomebody who can manage and run the
business and trying to, youknow, stick around the industry full
time.
Or do I want to kind of.
Sail off into the sunset,figure out.
What I want to do?
Yeah, man.
You know, because I'm good enough.
I feel like if I needed to, I can.
I could hang it up and.
And be fine and do well forthe rest of my life if I really needed

(32:11):
to.
I mean, I've invested intoother areas of my life that are,
you know, passive income allday long.
Right.
Regardless of what I do, Imake money when I sleep, so that's
kind of nice.
Right?
I enjoy this.
I love this.
I love being able to hang outand talk to my friends and see people
that have molded me.
Yeah.

(32:31):
Dude, I don't know if I don'tthink you knew me 10 or 15 years
ago.
No, No, I didn't.
Rough.
No.
Yeah, rough.
I think you and I met thefirst time at Air Force One.
I think we did.
I think it was our firstpersonal interaction.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That was, what, two years ago?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, like, I knew of you.

(32:52):
I think we were Facebookfriends and, like, whatever commented
message or things like that,but I didn't, like, know, you know,
you and.
Yeah.
Air Force One was the.
The first time, like, we metin person.
Yeah.
And that was a brief because,I mean, we were only.
Yeah.
Everybody was all over the place.
You guys.
You guys had people on the podcast.
I was walking around doing things.
Yeah.

(33:12):
3 and stuff like that.
And, yeah, I mean, that.
That's a special project, man.
That place, that.
That alone right there, thathelped mold my business, that helped
shape everything about me.
Like I said prior to that, Iwas rough, dude.
Like, I didn't give two.
I.
I'd call people out.
I'd call people out to fight.

(33:33):
I just didn't care, you know,it was just I was just that guy.
I just.
I was hot, bro.
All the time.
Like.
Like, Joey Love at sema.
Always.
Yeah.
Always calling people out at sema.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I did that with Joey in personat a booth.
Did you?
Yeah, I called this.
I don't remember the guy.
He was.
He was talking loud on theInternet, and Joey brought him over
to the booth, and I pulled himaround the booth.

(33:54):
I'm like, how you want to runthis, dude?
Like, I don't.
I don't do the Internet stuff,you know?
Yeah.
But, you know, again, this is.
It's all a part of growth, man.
Like, it took me a long timeto really realize that that's not
the attitude that's going to win.
That's not the attitude that'sgoing to carry me places.
It's not going to take mewhere I need to be.
So I've learned to tailormyself back and become a whole lot

(34:14):
more professional, becausenobody wants a representation of
that in their business.
Right.
My business alone.
Like, I stand alone ascustomer service.
But what do I look like assomebody who works in the industry?
And I'm trying to do that.
That doesn't play aprofessional part, and I don't ever
want to be that way with people.
Now, do I get hot in the collar?
Sure.
Am I going to have a debatewith you?
Sure.
But am I going to come afteryou like I used to come after people?

(34:36):
Absolutely not.
Because there's growth, and Ihave Rennie Doyle to thank for that.
And I have a couple otherpeople thank for that, because after
I went through training, youknow, he stuck the boots to me, man.
He made sure that I.
He held me accountable, and hemade sure I held myself accountable.
I do remember this one timehim and I went out to dinner with
Diane and my other half, anddude, dose of reality, like, it was

(35:03):
like.
It was like my fatherdisappointed at me.
Yeah.
And it just.
It hit me like a ton ofbricks, and it hurt my feelings.
I was like, damn, I'm just.
I'm disappointing somebody who is.
Made it part of his ownpersonal mission to mold me into
something better.
Yeah.
You know, and it took that forme to be like, okay, I need to stop
what I'm doing.
You know?

(35:23):
And just a part of who I amnow is just being strictly professional,
whether it be on the Internet,be it in person.
Right.
And it's calmed me down a lot.
You know, it's definitely made me.
It's made me a much betterperson because I've had to look at
it from Home, the outside,looking in as a person, it's like,
do I want to be treated thatway by people?

(35:44):
Right.
No.
So why am I doing that toother people?
It's not.
It's not fair to anybody.
Yeah.
And I've seen.
I've seen growth out of thatwith my business and personally.
Right.
And again, like you said, it'sjust not a good look, you know, and,
you know, everybody in thisindustry, you know, whether they
want to admit it or not,always kind of has an agenda of the

(36:06):
next step, you know, gettingon with a brand, representing a brand
for a brand, whatever.
I mean, the thing is, too, youhave to remember that the threshold
of entry in this industry isso low.
And that's because you can beanybody and come in and wash and
clean a car.
Yeah.
Now, the special people arethe ones who really understand what
the business is, what thebusiness takes, and then going from

(36:28):
there and leveling up.
You know, for me, when I firststarted my business, bro, I didn't
know what I was doing.
I mean, I knew what I wasdoing, but I didn't know what I was
doing.
This is a means to an end forme at some point, and I've grown
it into something amazing, andI'm very thankful for that.
You know, I'm very gratefulfor that every single day that I
get to wake up and come to abuilding that's mine and relate with

(36:50):
people who I've been friendswith forever or generate new customers
in business and stuff like that.
But I remember at one point,like I said, the threshold of entry
in this industry is so lowthat you can come in hot and the
collar be like that and stilldo something for yourself.
But it really takes somebodyspecial like yourself who went into,

(37:11):
you know, the detail side,into the podcasting, being a brand
representative.
Aquatech, by the way, MikeCardenas is amazing.
He helped me with.
When I was a Sonnex.
I think it was like 2016 or 2017.
I worked the booth, and, dude, he.
He just stood over the top ofme and helped me.
It was my first trade show.
I was scared of shit.

(37:32):
I didn't know what to do.
I didn't know how to talk to people.
But I had done somethingenough to a magnitude where they
recognized me, like, hey, youwant to work this boot?
And that was, like, one of myvery first opportunities that I was
like, wow, this is.
This is more than a business.
Yeah, I'm being recognized formy accolades.
And, you know, and that'swhere it all really kind of started.

(37:52):
Snowballing you know, it all started.
It all started going there andthen just more and more recognition.
And then I was able to get onwith another company.
And then, you know, throughthe years, I've worked for a few
different companies, you know,and I'm proud to be where I'm at
today, I will say that.
And I'm proud to see whereyou're at so far with your journey
with Aquatech.
And I know that you guys gotJerry on there now.

(38:12):
Jerry's a solid dude.
I love that guy to death.
He's funny shit.
Yeah.
The things that he says anddoes, that.
He cracks me up.
But, yeah, you know, at theend of this, it's all about evolution,
man.
You know, and evolving intowhat you want to be in the industry
and being as a person and.
And what you want to see asyourself in a business, you know,

(38:33):
and for me personally, it's.
It's taken a lot of trial and error.
It's taken a lot of.
Lot of disciplinary action onmy part, personally disciplining
myself, but also having othersdiscipline me, like within our group.
I.
Dude, I've been kicked out ofthe mafia a few times because I didn't

(38:55):
know how to.
I didn't know how to stopthis, and I didn't.
I.
I was, you know, just being combative.
And yeah, again, learning thatthat's not the way is.
That's.
That that shaped everythinggoing forward.
I haven't had anybody call melike, sean, what are you doing?
Like, stop acting up.
Like, you're doing too much onFacebook or you're doing this or
you need to calm down.

(39:15):
Like, you know, and it's niceto not have that.
It's nice to see smiling faces.
It's nice to be able to begreeted in a.
In a nice manner when I showup to trade shows.
And it's nice because I don'thave that rough appeal about.
I mean, I look pissed off allthe time.
I look like a suspect inanything that I do just based on

(39:36):
my overall appearance.
But to know me is to know,like, you know, I've got a good heart,
I treat people well.
I just.
I'm a no bullshit kind of guy,and I've always been that way.
And I've never really been aguy who deals with the Internet toug.
If I say it, that's it.
I'm not going to tap thekeyboard, I'm going to tap on your
front door kind of guy, you know?
Right.

(39:56):
But the growth behind all ofthat has been astronomical for me
and I really feel like a lotof people in this industry have helped
make me a better person.
And again, the lower thresholdof entry is great, but listening
to people who will help youand genuinely care to see you succeed

(40:18):
is everything.
You're one of them.
I've.
I've watched your podcast.
I've listened to you.
I follow your Facebook.
I love watching what peopledo, you know, and you're.
You're an amazing asset tothis industry, dude.
And to watch the growth ofyour podcast, the growth of Aquatech,
and everything just basedaround yourself, dude, your presence
at MTE was huge.

(40:39):
I sat back, I watched, bro.
I was like, this is awesome, dude.
Which is crazy because, like,this was the first MTE that I was
a little bummed about.
Well, and so here's the thing.
Not.
Not for a bad reason.
Not for any bad reasons.
You know, it was the firstyear helping Sheldon create the.

(41:02):
The Paint Correctioncompetition, and I was just so busy
in that booth that I didn'tget the time to spend with people.
Really.
You didn't need to, becauseeverybody came to you.
Some of them did, but some ofthem didn't.
And I missed.
And I.
And I just missed that.
Right.
Because again, like, some ofthe people that I'm used to having

(41:23):
interaction with were.
Were stuck in their boots.
And.
And so I see that.
So I miss a lot of people.
And.
And with mte, you know, I've talked.
I talk about it all the time.
MTE definitely has a specialplace in my heart because it's.
It's in my back, my backyard.
Right.
It's here in Orlando.

(41:45):
So I love going to mte.
I love it.
The atmosphere, I love seeing everybody.
The hugs, the.
The handshakes, you know, the.
The time catching up.
Right, right.
And so, like, you know,because I was so, you know, preoccupied
helping the Paint Correctioncompetition go about, like, I didn't

(42:05):
get some of that.
So I'm glad that this.
For next year, Sheldon'stalking about being able to have
more people in there so thatwe won't have to be so laser focused
on it, which will be nicebecause I.
I do want to have thatinteraction with it still.
But at the same time, I alsowant to be, like.

(42:29):
Right.
And to not be, you know, in it.
Of your pay correction competition.
So you, you know, naturally,you were going to be housed there.
It's.
It's just one of those thingswhen you're.
When you're startingsomething, but, you know, as the
years go on and stuff likethat, the ease of that, you know,
or the.
The bird.
The ease of burden gets liftedoff a little bit because more people
want to be involved and, youknow, help themselves.

(42:50):
That, like, I.
I totally understand whereyou're coming from.
I didn't think about thataspect till you started talking about
it.
Yeah, I personally don't getto see the majority of the trade
shows, be it mte, SEMA oranything like that.
Yeah, I'm in a booth.
I'm in a booth.
Last year, I was at SB3 inLake country the whole time.

(43:11):
Before that, it was buff andshine all day long.
You know, I was there.
Luckily, now I'm still withLake country, but I work for cci,
and I think CCI is going tohave a booth coming up this year
at Mobile Tech, so I will kindof be housed there.
But I do get that bit offreedom, you know, like, yeah, I've
set it to, you know, both.
Both places.
Like, hey, man, I want to beable to explore just a little bit.
I want to be able to go walkthrough and say hi to the people

(43:33):
like you who are stuck at thebooth you didn't get to interact
with.
You know, I want to be able towalk around, just freely say hi to
friends who are walking pastme when they're, you know, I'm working
and they're off to anotherbooth to see something that may be
new and exciting to them.
Right, exactly.
You know, so I do understandwhat you're saying when you say you
missed that camaraderie, you know?

(43:53):
Right.
And.
And I mean, honestly, like, itwas more of a volunteer thing.
I mean, Sheldon didn't, like,require me to be there, you know,
or anything.
This is your baby, man.
But it.
I mean, kind of.
I mean, I.
You know, it was a weird.
It was a weird thing because,you know, when it was originally
brought up by somebody elseand then they couldn't.

(44:17):
They couldn't run it, youknow, Sheldon had asked me, he said,
you know, can you.
Can you help me?
And I said, sheldon, like, I don't.
I don't know.
I don't know how to do this.
You know, Like, I don't.
I don't know what I'm doing.
I said, but I'll tell youwhat, I will put together a committee
of.
Of people in this industrythat can help you.

(44:38):
And I said, I'll.
I'll facilitate it.
I'll put everything together.
I could be a part of it, notbe a part of it, whatever.
And he said, well, no, I wantyou to be a part of it, because he's
so busy doing all the othertrade shows that Convex does, he's
like, I'm gonna need somebodyto, you know, kind of whatever.
So, you know, and I think thisfirst year, he wasn't really sure.

(44:59):
I mean, like, we had a goodplan of action, but it wasn't tested.
So he didn't really, I think,put as much.
I don't want to say effort,because he did, but he didn't put
as much, I think, backing into it.
Like.
Like, I don't think the budgetfor the paint correction competition

(45:22):
was anywhere near what the PDRthe dentalympics are, because, sure,
that's.
That's been going on for so long.
Like, that's proven.
I mastered a bit of that forso many years of doing it as like
the paint correctioncompetition is.
It's.
It's an infant.
It's still in its baby stages.
It has.
It hasn't even hit toddler stage.

(45:42):
I don't.
I don't even think it can walkon its own yet right now.
I mean, kind of, kind of like,as we grow and evolve as.
As people and detailers andbusiness owners and entrepreneurs,
that paint correctioncompetition is also going to evolve
the same exact way.
It's just absolutely.
It just.
There's just trial and error,and it's just the rough edges that
need to be smooth and figuringout exactly and that's smoother.
So.
And that's kind of the things,I mean, we've talked about, you know,

(46:06):
what it could be.
You know, I mean, the.
The main thing is for 20.
For 26 is to just be a littlebit more refined than what it was
this year.
And then once we get 26 doneand it's refined and it's a little
bit better, then starting in27, we can go crazy with it.

(46:28):
Sure.
Like, we had.
One of the suggestions that Iloved was instead of doing the polished
pan scuffed, and then you haveto bring them back was let's do weathered
pans, let's throw pans outsidefor a year, get bird etchings, watermarks,

(46:52):
and then let's make it a realpaint correction where you could.
Real life circumstances thatwould normally be what you would
work on every day.
Right.
You know, so I liked that idea.
The other idea that I likedwas we could do.
And I.
I keep calling it a blindtaste test, but basically it would

(47:14):
be, you just show up and youdon't know what chemicals you're
getting, you don't know whatpad you're going to use.
You know, everything's goingto be unmarked bottles.
Hey, here's a compound.
Kind of like a skillsvalidation certificate, right?
Here's a compound, here's a polish.
Like, you know, maybe wetalked to one of the pad manufacturers
who could make us pads thatdon't look like any other pad.

(47:38):
So somebody couldn't say like,oh, this is a lake country pad.
Oh, this is an obert pad.
This is a buff and shine pad.
This is a rupez pad.
You know, like we get a padthat doesn't look like anything,
you know.
You know, get a black padthat's rock hard that, you know,
typically you think a blackpad is super soft, you know.
Yeah.
I mean there's, there's a lotthat can be done.

(48:00):
I think, I think going into26, I think, you know, Sheldon saw
how this year went and howgood it went that he's putting a
little bit more in the budgetfor 26.
So I don't really think I'llneed to be in there as much.
I think he's gonna have peopledoing it, which is, which is great
because then that allows me tobe at the Aquatech boot.

(48:20):
I can, I can do a little bitmore bouncing back and forth between
aqua paint correction, becausethat's what I was going to do this
year.
And I spent almost all thetime in, in the paint correction
booth unless Mike, unless Mikehad to go use the restroom or Jason
had to go do something.
I went, ran back over thereand helped them.
You cover them for a few minutes.
But.
But no, I mean it was, it wasgreat, don't get me wrong.

(48:42):
But, but yeah, just, just thefact that I, you know, didn't get
to walk as much and seeeverybody, you know, was kind of
a bummer because that's,that's what I like, you know.
But no, afterwards, so thatwas fine.
Yeah, so like afterwards andeverybody's like dinners and stuff
like that.
Yeah, everybody's kind of likein different places running crazy.

(49:02):
So it's not like you're all inone space like we normally are, walking
around being able to see each other.
It's like everybody has adifferent plan.
Like you might be a seniorfrogs or you might be at the steakhouse
with your team having a dinneror XYZ or whatever, you know.
So I totally understand whereyou're coming from on that.
And trying to make the timefor everybody in a two or three day

(49:23):
show is like, it's like almostimpossible to be able to like sit
there and get FaceTime witheach individual.
Because if you actually didthat you wouldn't even really get
the show because you'reactually trying to take that time
with each individual personthat, you know, you know, we're,
we're.
I don't even like to refer tous as an industry too much anymore.
I like as a giant community.
Yeah, you know, like, ofcourse we're an industry, but, you

(49:46):
know, it just seems like avery, you know, we're, it's, it's
like a tight knit group.
You know, everybody, you know,it's more of a family kind of thing.
Yeah, you get families who fight.
You have people who don't likeeach other and they go at each other.
You know, that's just kind ofhow it is.
But that's like, it's like abig giant family, you know?
And yeah, at the end of theday, it's always about support and
being able to have that goodfacetime with people and stuff like

(50:07):
that.
And that's, you know, fallingback into our earlier conversation,
that's kind of what I looked at.
It's like, why am I at endswith everybody?
Why.
Why am I trying to battle with everybody?
It's like, ain't gonna get me nowhere.
It's just gonna, it's, it'sgonna blacklist me.
And I don't want to be that way.
I want to, I want to be ableto support, show, love, help educate,
teach, train and, and, andshow, you know, the younger people
who are coming into this thatthis is a great place to be, it's

(50:30):
a lot of fun, and you can makesome really serious money doing it.
Well, and not only that, buthonestly, like, that's why I've distanced
myself from some people is thepeople that have that attitude or
that negativity, they justbring everybody around them down,

(50:52):
you know, nobody wants to bearound that.
So, yeah, you know, it's, youknow, the way that I look at it is
there's so many people in thisindustry that it's all love, like,
they don't care.
Like you.
I mean, you could be, youknow, a ceramic brand.
They're a ceramic brand, butthey don't care.

(51:12):
I mean, that's the one thing Ilove about Tommy, you know, everybody.
Dude, Tommy, Tommy's just downfor the homies, you know, like, you
know, all love, no hate.
I mean, hell, we even did the, the.
You guys did your coexistingtraining with.
Yeah, well, no, no, we didn'tdo a coexisting training with Knox.

(51:34):
They did one with Noxy that Iwent to.
You're you're breaking up.
Is it your mic or is it me?
It might be you, I think.
Is it.
Let me try something.
Sorry.
Okay.
No, no, you're good.
Can you still hear me?
Yeah, Yeah, I can still hear you.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No.

(51:54):
So Angel Wax did a trainingthat I went to because Noxy wanted
me to come for the podcastand, like, podcast it and everything.
Then we did an Aquatech one,but what we did with them was at
sema, we did the AA meeting.
So we had.
That's what it was.
Okay.
Yeah.
So we had our Aquatech Angel Wax.
Angel Wax, Aquatech, howeveryou wanted to do it.
That's why we called it the AAmeeting, because it didn't matter.

(52:16):
We didn't have to putanybody's name above the other person.
Yeah.
And that was great.
We had a great turnout with that.
And I mean, Tommy's always.
I mean, Tommy, Rick and John,they always are like, dude, let's
do something together.
Like how?
Like, let's blow the detailindustry minds of two ceramic coating

(52:36):
companies.
I mean, technically, theircompounds and polishes and everything
else, but they're like, youknow, two ceramic coating companies
coming together and doing something.
So we have talked about thepossibility of doing a joint training.
So you come to the trainingand not only do you get certified
in Aquatech, you also get certified.
Certified in an Angel Wax.

(52:57):
You know, you could.
You could leave one trainingcertified in two coding brands.
I mean, that kind of breaks upthe stigma, what everybody thinks,
like, you have to choose upand be on a side.
I mean, back in the day, itwas gtechnic or Ceramic Pro.
Yeah, those were your choices.
Or Sea Quartz.
Sea Quartz was in there, too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They weren't really making asmuch noise as these two companies.

(53:17):
Yeah.
At that time and coatingsfirst started coming out, that's
kind of what it was.
You really.
It was one of the other if youwere kind of.
Or, you know, one of thethree, if you were really installing,
you know, so that kind ofbreaks up that stigma of, like, you
having to choose up and be apart of something.
Like, the one thing that I.
That I loved about SP3 andthat I love about CCI working for

(53:39):
them now is they're not.
They're.
They're not trying to takefrom another company.
They're not trying to takethat person's installers.
It's a love thing, you know,and similar to you guys, you know,
they.
They don't.
They don't want to sit thereand bash on another.
Another company.
And as a business owner and anentrepreneur, if you're going out

(54:00):
talking about yourcompetition, you're not a business
person.
You're making yourself look horrible.
Because badmouthing anotherbusiness to a client or whatever,
you don't look professional.
No, you don't.
I've.
I've learned that, man.
I've not gone out of my wayand said anything about anybody in
my local market, and I neverwill, because I'm my biggest competition

(54:20):
every day.
I don't care what the guy downthe street's doing.
I think you two right.
If you.
You're getting money andyou're getting cars, and I'm a little
slow.
Great.
Good for you, man.
Get it up.
Do what you got to do.
I'm happy for you.
Yeah.
At the end of the day, there's everybody.
There's cars for everybody to do.
Exactly.
And that was one of the thingsI told Jason and Mike, you know,

(54:40):
when.
When they approached me aboutjoining Aquatech was I told him,
I said, look, man, I'm.
I'm too, you know, friendswith too many people in this industry
that I don't want to pisspeople off.
So don't.
Don't think that you guys aregonna get me, and then I'm just gonna
go start selling Aquatech onmy friends.

(55:02):
Yeah.
The way that that kind ofhappened was organically.
Those people reached out to me.
Hey, man, you know, I'm justnot feeling this brand I'm using
anymore.
I've had some issues or.
Da, da, da, da.
What's.
What's going on with Aquatech,you know?
And I could say, well, I mean,it works for me.
Like, if you want to try it,I'll set you up like it's, you know,

(55:24):
no harm, no foul.
You could buy.
You buy one bottle, you know,try it out.
If you like it, great.
If you don't, no, no problem.
You know, you're not gonnahurt my feelings.
Absolutely.
You know, and that's the.
That's the way that Iapproached it.
That's a super cool approachtowards it, too, because you're not.
You're not over here tryingto, you know, essentially shit on
somebody to make a sale or.

(55:45):
Or, you know, put a dollarcommission in your pocket type of
thing, you know, like.
Like you said, happens organically.
And that's the best part about it.
You know, it's like, you know,when I worked with SB3 and working
for CCI, it's.
I.
I take that same approach.
I'm.
No pressure.
If you want, great.
Yeah, that's fine too, man.
I can get it.
I'm.
That's like, I tell peoplethis shit all the time.
It's like, I don't care whatside of politics you choose.

(56:09):
If I was your friend beforeyou had your voiced opinion, you're
still my friend.
Yeah.
Do we agree on things?
No.
But that doesn't affect our friendship.
And I.
Anything that I do in theindustry affect how I work with other
people.
Like, Barry, an amazing guy.
You know, I.
I felt so bad when I, youknow, sent in my resignation, but

(56:30):
at the end of the day, I toldin my resignation, I said, you know,
I don't care what it comesdown to.
I'm still going to support.
Support SB3.
And I made note of that toBrian and Michael and the team at
cci.
Like, I want you guys to know,coming onto this team, that I'm still
going to support SB3 and helpgrow everybody in the industry.
And they were like, that'swhat we want.
Yeah.
Somebody who's going to hateon the next company.

(56:51):
And that right theresolidified my decision to stay with
CCI and do what I'm doing isbecause they were okay with me supporting.
Like, I'm still going tosupport Tommy.
I'm still gonna support youguys because everybody needs that,
you know?
Absolutely.
Operation of an industry.
Like, if we're gonna singleeach other out, our community is
just going to be vexed.

(57:12):
It's going to be.
We're going to have and we'regoing to be choosing sides.
And the next thing you know,people are just going to start hating
on each other.
It's just going to be a bunchof that we don't need.
Right.
You know, and I think it's abeautiful thing these days is like,
you know, as much as we seethe drama, you also see the love
that comes together.
You see the people who band together.
You seen, you know, people whoare going through things.

(57:33):
A family member, you know,gets hurt or something happens.
Our community comes togetherand helps each other, you know, and
that.
That's gorge.
That's a gorgeous thing, man.
That's.
That's so nice to see.
It's like, I'd rather see thatthan people go at it with each other.
Because I was that guy whowent at it with people, and I had
to learn hard lessons on my own.
Lose friendships with people,you know, who I was at ends with.

(57:55):
And, you know, I still don'ttalk to today.
And that kind of hurts myfeelings because it was my fault.
I was Being poisoned,expecting them to die.
And that's not the way itneeds to be.
Yeah.
And I mean, and that's thething, man.
Eventually you get to a pointto where, you know, you're, you're
spewing so much hatenegativity that, you know, people
just like start.

(58:16):
Yeah.
You're like, why?
How come nobody's talking tome anymore?
How come nobody's, you know,got my back anymore?
You know, whatever.
I mean, that was my biggestproblem with, you know, my past co
host was I kept trying to tellhim, like, look, dude, like, you
know, you can't be this way,you know, and, and I, and I think

(58:37):
part of a lot of that is, youknow, with this industry is it is
mostly male dominated and, andit's huge egos because everybody
thinks that they're betterthan the next guy.
You know, like I said, thethreshold of entry in our, in our
industry is so low that likeanybody can come in and try and swing

(58:58):
their dick on the table andtrying to be the best and the best.
It's like, that's great thatwe're all a type personalities, but
we should never be so bigwhere we can't hear, listen and learn.
Right.
I'm, I'm in this industry as abusiness, 15 years and I will take
notes from somebody who's asecond year.

(59:18):
Yeah.
Because I, they're going toteach me something that I don't know
and I hope by the end of thatthat I could teach them the things
that I know.
Yeah.
And not only that, but if youreally sit back and it's, it's kind
of what I've tried to do thispast year after everything that happened
last year is kind of sittingback and taking more quiet approach.

(59:42):
Like I notice the people thatare, are the badasses in this industry
or.
The quiet ones, you know whatyou call them?
Silent giants.
Exactly.
And I won't say that I'm asilent giant, by no means, but I
am extremely quiet online.
I don't post a ton of the carswe do.

(01:00:02):
I mean actually what peoplesee, it's awesome.
You know, but there's so muchmore to my business and so many layers
of my business that peopledon't see or know.
Yeah.
Or you know, the numbers thatwe do on a monthly or, you know,
quarterly or annually.
Like I do really well for myself.
You know, and I don't drivinga Bentley, bro.

(01:00:24):
You must be doing all right.
I try, man.
You know, I try and you know,and like I said, you know, outside
of Outside of the detailingpart of it, I have my.
Like I said, I have my handsand other things.
Yeah.
I own a barber shop.
I own an S and P studio.
I do have my hands on somereal estate.
You know, like I said, that's.
That's my passive income isthe rental properties at.

(01:00:46):
That's.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
You know, and right now, we'rein the middle of launching a multimedia
and consulting business.
Oh, nice.
I've got a team of people whoare working with us as far as, like,
editors who fly drones,photographers, videographers, and
stuff like that.
I'm trying to create like a.

(01:01:06):
An art space for people.
Okay.
So, you know, help myself,help my business and help grow the
other things and the otheravenues of revenue that I have.
Like, the real estate side ofit, I don't.
I'm not in the real estategame, but I do like to buy properties
that I can and either not flipthem, but, like, fix them up and
turn them into rentals and.

(01:01:28):
Right.
But also in the same token ofthat, I can utilize that multimedia
business that I have andutilize that for rental space.
I can have somebody film theinside of it and do that for turning
it into rentals.
And then, you know, on side ofthat, having real estate agents see
those same things and want toutilize that service for their sales,

(01:01:49):
you know, so.
Kind of like, that's come.
That's becoming kind of a bigthing with.
With real estate now is, youknow, the.
The virtual tour kind of deal.
Exactly.
Right.
So there's a lot of people whoare shooting, like, open frame and
drone shots over the house toget aerial views.
Like back in the day, youknow, in the 90s and early, you didn't
have no drones.
You had to fly a helicopter toget an aerial vision.

(01:02:11):
Yeah, yeah.
I remember.
I remember when I.
I remember when I firststarted working.
When I first started workingthe car wash that I.
That was the first one that Imanaged that I was like, top dog
and I.
And I remember we had a guycome and he was like, you know, hey,

(01:02:32):
I could shoot aerial footageor whatever.
And the owner was like, oh,why do we need aerial footage of
a car?
Like the roof of the car washor whatever.
Right.
And so, like, he did it, youknow, and the guy's like, flying
a Cessna plane over, you know,the car wash, taking a picture down
and, you know, so, like, wehad a picture of the aerial view
of the car wash.
But yeah, dude, I mean, thiswas like 2000, maybe 2001 or whatever.

(01:02:55):
You Know, and he was doing itwith a plane at that time.
So.
Yeah, it's definitely.
Reality of that is like itcosted so much more at that point.
Absolutely.
Now everything is digital.
You're on a dude's havegoggles on and they see exactly what.
They make that so cool.
Like you could spin the damnthing around going down and up.

(01:03:15):
And the possibilities behindlike doing certain things like that
are endless, you know, and itcreates so much more depth into what
you're trying to produce andit actually helps, you know, the
sale of what you're trying toget with somebody.
Yeah, you know, like my, myguy, he's in our front office right

(01:03:35):
now.
He does all of our video stuff.
I mean he's so talented, you know.
And he started just by hisbrother giving him a camera and saying,
shoot this music video for me,that's cool.
And the kid fell in love afterhis first shot and he's been doing
it for the last eight years.
He's been with me for about ayear now full time, you know, and

(01:03:58):
so much so I've seen thetalent in him that I decided to invest.
Yeah, dude, let me put somemoney behind this with you.
Let's.
Let's get some.
You already got good shit.
Let's get some really goodshit, you know, let's get green screens,
get backdrops, let's get real lighting.
Let's get everything that'sgoing to be needed, necessary.
And I'm in the middle ofgetting ready to procure a new lease

(01:04:19):
in downtown Santa Rosa with amap, with a, I wouldn't say massive,
but you know, about a 1500square foot office space for these
guys to go in there and havetheir creative space to do what they
need to do, you know, withoutfeeling like they need to be here.
My guy can come shoot here, goto the office downtown.
Right.
You know, and get his editsdone in peace and quiet so he's not
hearing, you know, tornadorsand machines and things like that

(01:04:42):
or come in and you know, takesome photos, go to the, go to the
other office and editeverything down and then just drop
it over to me and then I gofrom there, you know what I mean?
So yeah, it's definitely.
It's one hand washes the other essentially.
Yeah.
You know, and in 2025, man, alot of the stuff now is all about
it's showboating a lot of it'sshowing off what you got and show

(01:05:03):
them what you can do and youknow, making it look cool and like
that.
So trying to trying to ridethat wave.
Being a dude who started offby riding my tags for, you know,
I never thought I'd hearmyself say I'm the old guy, you know,
but I'm the old guy.
What's up, Serge?
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah, and it's, it's, youknow, kind of, kind of going back

(01:05:26):
to what we were talking aboutin the beginning.
I mean, that's, you know, I'man old guy and like, I mean, I try
to somewhat stay up on thetechnology, but, you know, at the
same time, like, I always tellpeople, like, I'm a scroller, not
a poster.
You know, I enjoy watching,you know, I, I occasionally come
up with funny ideas andcreatives and things like that.

(01:05:49):
And, you know, I try to figureout how I can do it.
But sometimes it's like, youknow, again, when I'm working on
a vehicle, stopping.
A little bit intimidating attimes, sometimes.
It can, you know.
Yeah.
And.
And again it's like, okay,well that didn't come out as, you
know, like, it didn't come outlike I visioned in my head, you know,
so like, well, I won't put itout but, but that's where I'm just

(01:06:11):
trying to like right now,like, even with just walk arounds,
like if for my business, if Ijust post a walk around, like, hey,
this was a, you know, car thatwe ceramic coated, like just start
building some kind offollowing or whatever there, you
know, by, by doing shorts orreels or whatever.

(01:06:32):
And then maybe get to a pointto where I'm like, okay, cool, well,
I've got this, you know,hammered out car, so let me do a
5050 and let me, you know, doa quick little video or something
like that.
But yeah, dude, I'm, I'mdefinitely going to look into those
glasses now because that wouldbe so much better because then I
don't have to stop to set thecamera up and then I don't have to

(01:06:56):
worry about did I get my good side?
You know, like, my side is.
I'm round.
Yes.
Oh my somebody.
And that's like, dude, I, Iwent first, first, first pool dip
of the, of the summer this outthis evening.
So like my hair is like alljust pulled out right now because
when I got out of the pool, Ijust dried it.

(01:07:18):
I was like, whatever going on.
This guy like, hey man, don't,don't shoot back here, okay?
Because yeah, going on, brokeeps yelling at me because it's
like, it's all over the placebecause I'm trying to Just like,
get an old man.
Grow out.
And she's like, can you justshave it back again?
And I'm like, just relax, babe.
It'll get a little bit longer.

(01:07:39):
It'll weigh itself down.
It'll, it'll look okay.
Like, process.
Yeah, yeah, get the old man.
The old man split back.
Yeah.
Thing.
That's awesome, man.
Yeah.
Invest those glasses, dude.
I, I think that's a reallygood idea.
And, you know, like I said,you can shoot video off them, you
can go live, you can do alldifferent types of stuff, you know.
Yeah.
Get that POV kind of thing as,you know.

(01:08:01):
Yeah.
I've seen more and more peopleusing them now.
You know, I mean, Rasheed wasone of the first people, like, last
year that I saw using them,and then I've seen Esme using them
a lot more now and in hervideos and.
Yeah, you know.
Yeah.

(01:08:22):
Yeah, she's awesome, dude.
Like, I don't know if you'vebeen following along with my little
cartoon that I've, that I'vecreated based on the detailing industry,
but.
Tommy.
Yeah, yeah, that was a great one.
But I, I kind of created oneloosely based on her.
Her.
Like, I, I, I, I said I, Ineed a, a social media, like, female

(01:08:47):
detailer or whatever.
And it was funny because,like, it made a cartoon version that
kind of looked like Esme.
Like, didn't have the tattoosor anything like that, but kind of
kind of looked like Esme.
And, and dude, I sent it toher on, on Instagram, and she, she
loved it, dude.
She's like, oh, my God.
She goes, all it needs is thetattoos and it'll be perfect.

(01:09:09):
And then, like, I even senther, like, the name and the background
history, and she's like, oh,my God.
She's like, that's so cool.
Like, so, yeah, she's, she'spretty cool.
She's, she's, she's, she'salways been pretty good.
Every, Anytime I've asked her,you know, come on the pod or, you
know, just chit chatting withher whatnot.
But, but yeah, it's, it's been fun.

(01:09:31):
But yeah, she's, yeah, she'skilling it, man.
I love that.
But she, but again, dude,like, she puts the work into the
social media, you know, Imean, like, when I had her on, and
she's like, you know, tellingme how she does it, and, like, that's
one of the things I did learnfrom her was because I was like,
how do you, like, when youtake these, these pictures?
Like, is somebody taking itfor you?

(01:09:53):
Like, how do you take thepicture when you're working, like,
to get the action shot?
And, you know, and she's like,no, she goes, I just record a video
for, like, 10 seconds, 20seconds or whatever as I'm working.
She goes.
And then I just scroll thevideo and find, like, the perfect
frame.
Takes, like, a still shot, and she.
Takes a screenshot of it, andthat's how she does her pictures.

(01:10:13):
So, like, I started doing thatwith some of my things.
I would just set the cameraup, hit the record button, and I'd
polish the hood out orwhatever, or a panel, whatever I
was doing.
And then I would just pause itand then, like, move.
You know, move it frame byframe to find, like, the perfect
kind of shot.
And then I would screenshotit, and then that's what I would

(01:10:33):
use.
I think I might give that atry because when.
When my guy, Sergio, he doesthe videos, he'll sometimes set up
time lapses, camera to a time lapse.
And the guys just go, yeah.
In that time lapse, you canfind something that's really.
Oh, sure, yeah, yeah.
Just find that one perfectframe where the polisher is the right

(01:10:54):
way, or, you know, you'relooking the right way.
Like, you know, I was mostlyoverthink these things.
Like, when I'm working videosand stuff, I'm like, dude, gotta
make sure this is here.
This is here.
Yeah, it's not a bad idea tokind of just freeball it, man.
Just.
And then find.
Find your action shot or find your.
Yeah, I used to.
I used to tell the kid that.

(01:11:15):
That filmed me.
I was like, look, dude, ifthis cord ever falls off my shoulder,
you tell me to cut and let's restart.
Because I was like, I am not.
Yeah, bro.
Yeah.
And that's the first thingthey'll do.
They'll.
They'll find a way to.
To rip your ass apart.

(01:11:36):
Oh, absolutely.
You jump on any of theseforums, you post a picture that's
kind of partially the reason Idon't post anymore is because I don't
want to sit here and getslayed by these people.
Same.
That's gonna bring out,meaning me.
And I'm like, you.
I'll go at you, I'll shoot it.
I'll shoot a video, and Ithink it's awesome.
And I go back and I watch it.
I'm like, like, nah, like,that's off.
They could rip me for that.

(01:11:56):
They're gonna talk me for that.
I was like, it.
I'm Just not gonna post it then.
You know, that's the worstpart about social media and that
is the worst of it all is.
Yeah.
Perception of everything hasto be perfect when it doesn't need
to be because life is perfect.
Everything out of a car.
I mean, that's concourse and.
Right type.

(01:12:17):
Right.
So.
Yeah, but I think it dependson the audience that you're shooting
for, right?
So, like, if you're shootingfor your client, your client might
not notice that the cord's noton your shoulder.
So why does it.
Why does it matter?
Your client might not noticethat, you know, the.
In the middle of the.
The video, the, you know, the D.

(01:12:38):
A stalls out, you know, soyou're not cutting any more, you
know, but if your audience isdetailers, you better make sure that
is.
Yeah.
Like some scores hits, right?
Yeah.
I mean, dude, there's.
You don't know.
I mean, I mean, I.
I kind of stopped doing sunshots because my.
The lights in my shop kind of.

(01:12:59):
Kind of make the car look, you know.
Yeah.
Nicer.
Yeah.
But there were so many timeswhen I used to do sunshots all the
time that I would walk aroundit and then I'd watch it back and
it'd be like, ah, there's asmudge on the window.
Hang on a second.
Let me fix the window realquick and let me go back and reshooting.
And trying to perfect everysmall little inklet of things that

(01:13:21):
are going on that you end upwasting your own time that.
Oh, absolutely, absolutely.
Dude.
That's why.
That's why I don't do it anymore.
I do it in the shop because I'm.
Because I'm really not postingshow and shines on.
On detail sites anymore ordetail groups anymore.
60 to us is 110 to your client.

(01:13:42):
Absolutely.
All day long you're like,damn, dude.
I could do so much.
And the detailers anddetailing for money ain't paying
my bills.
So, like, I think Levi Gatessaid it best.
He said, you're not going topay your bills impressing other detailers.
Nope.
He said that a long time ago.
And, bro, that has stuck withme for.

(01:14:02):
Actually had that sameconversation with Brian Crosby today.
I talked to him quite oftenand I was like, dude, we were.
I don't remember what theconversation was about.
And I was like, we're nevergonna, you know, we're never gonna
make money as a businesstrying to impress other detailers
because they're doing the samedamn thing we're doing.
Exactly.
Like I said, I don't care whatother detailers think.
I'm my own competition every day.

(01:14:23):
Yeah.
All I want to do is just bebetter for myself, better for my
family, and better for my business.
That's it.
Anything else is irrelevant.
I.
I just don't care.
It doesn't.
It's not that I don't careabout the industry.
I don't care about otherpeople's perception of me and how
I.
That's it.
Because again, at the end ofthe day, right, Facebook could go
away.

(01:14:44):
We have.
We don't have this connectionanymore to each other.
So at the end of the day,then, then, then who are you, you
know, doing everything for?
You get rid of that.
You get rid of your cell phonecamera, then your 35 millimeter Kodak.
Check this out.
Exactly.
Exactly.
You know, so at the end of theday, it's like, you know, you have

(01:15:06):
to really think, like, who.
Who are you making those posts for?
And that's.
That's, again, kind of why I'mlike, okay, well, you know, instead
of taking these videos andputting them in, you know, insert
detail group name here to showup for detailers, why don't I post

(01:15:26):
it on Detail Solutions, AutoSpa, Instagram, Detail Solutions,
Auto Spa, Facebook, and try toget clients out of it versus trying
to, you know, have somedetailer 2,000 miles away or in another
country just give me a thumbsup because I made a car shiny.

(01:15:46):
Like, yeah.
You know, I mean, I.
I've said it before.
Like, big deal.
We all make cars shiny.
That's our job.
Like, why do I want to watchanother shiny car video?
You know?
And that, you know, part ofthat, too, falls into where I'm at
with my kind of.
With my own business.
You know, it's like, you'relike, oh, you.
I don't see you at car showsand networking and stuff like that.

(01:16:06):
It's like, dude, I've been inthis 15 years already.
This is a business.
Like, I serve cars for 60hours a week.
The last thing.
And I hate to say this becauseit sounds so biased on a Saturday
earliest or Sunday and go tocars and coffee.
Yeah, I don't.
You know, and it's just.
And it's ours.
It's something.
You get the culture.
It's just, this is my life.

(01:16:27):
This is my business.
I breathe this every day sometimes.
Not only that, dude, but it'slike, I mean, I hate to say that
I'm kind of jaded now becauseI am a car guy, but, like, cars don't
wow me like that anymore.
Me neither.
You know, it stops becomingfun when it becomes a business.

(01:16:50):
Yeah.
And then you start to lose that.
Oh, this is so cool.
Like, oh, I got this badass car.
Like, yeah.
So many cool ass cars that runthrough my shop.
And I don't eat, dude.
I'm just like, dude, I'mbarely even excited about owning
a Bentley.
Yeah.
15 years ago.
Yeah, exactly.
Well, that's like at Sema lastyear there was a, I think there was

(01:17:17):
a Kona Sig there or whatever.
And I've never seen a Kona Sig before.
And I was like, oh, cool, Agoodness sake.
And then I was kind of like.
Okay, it's wheels and paint, baby.
Exactly, exactly.
You know, I got to work.
Me and Justin Loboto got towork on the Thor and the other one,
the Koenigsegg.
Okay.
Honorary car week.

(01:17:38):
And that was cool for mebecause at that point it was a business,
but it was still fun becausethese are like my real firsthand
experience with some superexotics, you know, Right.
Crazy.
You know, exotic, cool cars,you know, and second time I'd went
out there or you know, goingto these shows and stuff like that,
the, the excitement just, itwasn't there like it used to be.

(01:18:00):
Because it's like at the endof the day, you're still wiping.
I could get the same kind ofmoney wiping down a Honda Accord,
dude.
That's what I say all the time.
Like, don't get me wrong, you can.
Have a Lamborghini or a Honda,I'm still going to treat them the
same.
Right.
You know, and, and, and I sayit all the time.
Like I don't chase thoseexotic guy clients anymore.

(01:18:20):
In fact, I kind of almostdon't want them.
Let me tell you something, okay?
I, I like to go for the hotrod enthusiast.
I like to go for middle class.
I like to go.
That will spend the money.
You know why?
Because those are the peoplewho see the value in their investment.

(01:18:40):
They're willing to put moneytowards it.
Now you get the guys with theLamborghinis, the Ferraris, the Koenigsex
Paganis.
They got you money.
I don't care, I'll get anotherone kind of guy.
Exactly.
And that's.
And you stop chasing thatdemographic of people.
It's nice to have that 1%because that inside that 1%.
1% of that 1% actually caresto maintain the investment while

(01:19:04):
the rest of them have so muchmoney they can give two shits what
happens to that car.
Because they're gonna go getAnother one.
Or, or.
And this is my thought becausesocial media has made a lot more,
more millionaires than everbefore is they're getting those cars
because they get a little bitof social media money.
They can't really afford them.

(01:19:24):
So they can't.
So they're not really spendingthe money on the care because a,
they're probably leased andthey're paying like $5,000 a month
on a car they can not really afford.
And if the social media has alike month, they definitely can't
afford it.
Right.
Like you know, in their bank account.

(01:19:46):
Yeah, exactly.
You know, or on the flip sideis like you said, right, they've
got you money and most of thetime those are cars that they're
not driving daily.
Yeah.
So there's.
So why do I need to, to spendthousands of dollars on something
that I'm just gonna take thecars and coffee or date night with
the wife.

(01:20:06):
The garage for the rest of the time.
Right, right.
Or, or it's.
Or it's the holder car for thenext one.
Oh, the new one's going tocome out in two years.
So I bought this one now sothat I can buy the new one in two
years.
You know, like, I mean, I mean thank.
Thankfully I've got a clientthat just will get a cars, get his
car ceramic coated regardless.

(01:20:28):
But yeah, like so December of23 he got an Aston Martin.
The SUV, the DB, the DB7, 707.
Okay.

(01:20:48):
The DBX 707 or whatever it is.
Right.
He got that and he had mecorrect it and code it and everything.
And he goes, this is just aholder car.
And I'm like, what do you meana holder car?
And he goes well I ordered myRange Rover but it's going to take
like a year for them to do sothis is.

(01:21:09):
So he got that car in Decemberof 23 and then in December of 24
his Range Rover came in.
So he traded in the AstonMartin then brought me the Range
Rover to get done.
Yeah, I mean I've got a clientlike that.
He's a very, very wealthy attorney.
I mean like wealthy attorney.
He had a Urus and it wasprojected to be in the shop for about

(01:21:34):
two weeks.
It was in there a week longerthan he wanted.
So he went out and bought abrand new Continental gt.
He's like, can you focus?
And I'm like, yeah.
And I was like, why'd you buy this?
He's like, oh, my URUS is inthe shop.
It's been there for a weeklonger than I wanted.
So I just had to get anothercar to drive.
I'm like, dude, you gotMcLarens and everything else in your
garage.
Like, what the.

(01:21:54):
Why not, right?
I'm like, I guess.
Yeah, exactly.
I grew up.
Yeah.
But, yeah, I mean, to havethat kind of money is cool, but,
you know, at the same time,like, you know, kind of like we were
saying, like, you know, youget those clients who are either
not interested based on thefact that they are.
Aren't going to drive it asmuch, or they're gonna go get another

(01:22:15):
one.
You know, you really don'tcare because they've just kind of
like that.
Well, and those are also cars,too, that I've seen over the years,
you know, in the.
In the groups and everything,where, you know, again, the low entry
of.
Of or the low level of entryinto this industry.

(01:22:35):
And then, of course, that'sall anybody wants to do.
And it's, you know, kind ofthe old.
The old saying, you know, yourdetailers in my group asking how
to detail your car kind ofthing, right?
And it's.
I've got this Ferrari or thisLamborghini or this whatever, like,
how do I do it?
And, you know, and somebody.
Somebody had said something tome or had asked me one time, you

(01:22:56):
know, like, you know, are there.
There any cars that you would,like, turn down?
And I was like, absolutely.
You know, I mean, just talkingwith Eddie Fusa, you know, a Ferrari
F40 would be a car that Iwould turn down.
You know, Eddie's like,there's so many, like, gaps and vents
and things that you can't getwater into because then it.

(01:23:19):
It sits and it creates rust.
That car has differentcomposites that aren't a typical,
you know, metal aluminum thatyou can just the wheels off of.
Those things are just a taskin itself.
Right.
You know, so I also think youhave to know your boundaries and

(01:23:42):
your limits with some of thesecars, too.
You know, I.
I would 100 with you on that.
And, you know, kind of likeyou said, you get a lot of these
people who are new into theindustry coming in and wanting those
things, but don't know what todo with them.
Exactly.
And that's scary.
That's scary for the client,number one.
Number two, it's scary foryour business because you.

(01:24:03):
That essentially don't knowthat you could tank your company
with one wrong move.
And if you don't gotinsurance, you are really up creek
without a paddle.
And that's the other thing.
I mean, a lot of.
A lot of people Coming in,don't have insurance.
Hell, they probably don't evenhave their business registered with
the state that they live inbecause it's.
Oh, you know, oh, well, youknow, who's going to find out entry.

(01:24:25):
And a lot of them fly underthe radar, and, you know, that's
what pisses a lot of people off.
And I hear people complainabout, like, this, this guy doesn't
have insurance.
He doesn't have.
Well, did you when you started?
Probably not.
Yeah.
I'm not gonna lie.
I didn't.
I sure didn't.
I didn't come in here, youknow, balling out and having money.
Like everything I have, I own.
I own free and clear.
I don't have a loan.
I don't have anything.
Everything was organized, youknow, and I.

(01:24:47):
I own everything.
Yeah.
Building and everything.
It's mine, you know.
Well, that's, you know, at thesame time point, those are the things
that you have to go through.
And now, would I have done itdifferently then, knowing what I
know today?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was over here putting arotary to a car and without the proper
license here in turn right.

(01:25:09):
Do it now or even then.
Yeah.
Go through that paint job.
That could essentially ruin mybusiness right off the bat.
Yeah, exactly.
That's the scary part thatpeople understand they want to take
on these big jobs and, youknow, they don't know their threshold
and that the damage they canessentially create could put such
a burden on them that theydon't even understand because they're
just trying to make thatdollar to take home to their family.

(01:25:32):
Right.
And that's.
That's, you know, kind ofgoing back to talking to my buddy
earlier today about interiors.
You know, he was like, well,you know, do something about, like,
taking seats out.
And I was like, buddy, I don'ttake seats out.
And he's like, well, why not Insurance?
And I said, yeah, absolutely.
And he said, well, how muchwould it cost for you to.
To upgrade your insurance?
And I said, buddy, it's notabout the insurance.

(01:25:53):
I said, the thing that a lotof people don't understand is those
bolts that are holding yourseat in are torque specific.
And once you take them out,they're not made to go back in again.
You know, you got to get newbolts to put in.
So I said, so I said, here'sthe thing.
I'm a detailer that takes yourseat out.

(01:26:15):
I use those same bolts to putthem back in.
Now you go and have anaccident, your seat comes out, you
get severely injured.
Your lawyer.
Your lawyer Goes, well, weneed to find out why those seat bolts
didn't hold.
And then you go, oh, well, youknow, Alex detailed my car a couple
of months back, and he tookthe seats out.

(01:26:36):
Oh, guess what, man?
We're gonna go sue the out of Alex.
You know, you're on the hookfor everything exactly your business.
That's like, you know, a lotof the times, like, we don't clean
seat belts.
They're up.
We're not clean.
And if you want me to cleanthem, you're going to get in front
of a camera like I am rightnow, and you're going to say, I hold
Sean Sepulveda, an ape.
Luxury auto spawn.

(01:26:56):
Any holdings that he has notresponsible for anything in the incident
of an accident.
Something happens, the seatbelt fails.
This man is not responsible.
Other than that, I won't touchyour seatbelts.
I'm not not doing it.
We will replace them for you.
Well, and it's, it's like Itold him with, with child seats,
you know, like, I learned, Ilearned at the car wash, when you
take a child seat out to cleanunderneath it, behind it, around

(01:27:17):
it, whatever, you know, youdon't set it back in because if the
client comes back in a hurryand they see that, they throw their
kid in there.
So we, what I do, becausethat's what I was always taught at
the car wash, is you flip itupside down.
So they know, like, theycannot put their child in it, and
they have to put it in.
And my buddy was like, dude,like, I never would have thought

(01:27:40):
about any of this stuff, you know?
And I was like, but that's howa lot of detailers are.
They just don't think it's,you know, again, hey, I got to feed
my family.
You know, they're chasing that dollar.
They're trying to turn and burn.
They want it out for the next one.
And then they need that money,you know, And a lot of people come
into this industry as, youknow, I wouldn't say an act of desperation,
but a means to an end for themselves.

(01:28:01):
And I was one of them.
I'm not going to act like, oh, absolutely.
I had, I had a, a new son.
I knew I was good at cleaning cars.
I was really good because Ihad ocd, Hella bad.
And I knew I'd do well withit, but it was like, where do I start,
right?
You know, And I, I, I'd belying to say that if I wasn't guilty,
that I, that I probablymismanaged quite a few of those different

(01:28:21):
Things in the years that Istarted the business.
But thankfully you learnedalong the way.
You self.
You self corrected and youevolved, right?
Like we talked earlier about,like, evolving and getting better
and, and growing and knowledgeand all that stuff.
And, you know, that's the keyis at least you learned.

(01:28:44):
I mean, I mean, come on, dude.
I mean, we were all stupidkids at one point, but we learned
from our mistakes and we like,okay, don't touch the hot stove again.
You know, I just read that inmy book this morning about.
It's called the Subtle Art ofNot Giving a Fuck.
I was reading that this morning.
I was like, talking about,like, the sacrifices of, like, you
know, things like this.
And you learned.
You have to keep learning.
It's like touching the hot stove.

(01:29:04):
You want to do it again?
Are you really going to do it again?
Yeah.
But it also, like, you know,part of that book resonated with
me was saying was like,everybody wants to see the pinnacle
of their own success, and theyonly want to ask the questions of
what gets them to that top tier.
But they're not asking, whatpains are you willing to endure to

(01:29:25):
get yourself there?
You know, And I, that, thathit me and I, you know, after I read
that, I was at the gym this morning.
I was walking on the treadmill.
I'm like, that makes all thefucking sense in the world.
It's like, why don't I askmyself these things?
And today I was asking myself,like, what pains am I willing to
endure to grow?
You know, instead of askinglike, what is it going to take to

(01:29:46):
get me there?
What am I willing to gothrough to get it?
What pains am I willing to gothrough to grow?
You know, man, that.
Go read that book.
That book is great so far, man.
I am like, I can't wait to gohome and read some more, you know?
Nice.
It's got me that captivated.
Like, I, I want more of that book.
I want to know.

(01:30:07):
I want to know what's on thenext page.
Yeah, I listened to a TED Talklast night.
It was.
Shoot.
Let me, Let me look it up realquick because I want to.
I want to make sure that Idon't like up the title and everything
like that.
So.
So the lady's name is BreneBrown and it's.

(01:30:31):
What's the title?
The title is the Power of Vulnerability.
Vulnerability.
And so she talks about.
It's only like 20 minutes long.
So it's like a.
It's like an easy.
It's an easy listen.
But what she talks about iseverybody's vulnerability, right?

(01:30:51):
Like your shame, your, youknow, whatever you go through that
makes you vulnerable.
And she talks about how,because she's like, she's a therapist,
like a scientist, I guess, or whatever.
Like, so she researches allthese things and, and she talks about
how she was like, you know,I'm gonna go, I'm gonna take a year

(01:31:13):
and I'm gonna learn about thepower of shame and vulnerability
because that's the thing that,that inhibits us from, like you said,
right.
Like, how do we get to thepinnacle of whatever.
Right.
And, and a lot of times it's,it's our vulnerability.
It's, it's are.
We don't know how to do it.

(01:31:34):
We're.
We're ashamed that we don'tknow how to do it.
Like, you know, all thosethings and.
That holds us back.
Right, right, exactly.
And she's like, I'm gonna takethis year.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna do thisdeep dive and I'm, I'm gonna, you
know, do this whole thing on shame.
And she's like, it actuallyended up taking me six years.
And she goes, I realized thatI couldn't overcome it.
It's just something that wehave to deal with.

(01:31:58):
But, but you figure your waysaround it.
And it was actually a pretty,a pretty cool like, thing because
the, the, the whole thing thatkind of got me to.
There was, I saw in Detailingfor Money yesterday, a detailer.
And I don't remember his name,but he was talking, you know, the

(01:32:21):
same old, same old stuff aboutkind of knowing your worth.
You know, he was like, look,this guy called me with a 35 foot
trailer or, or whatever yousaw, right?
Yeah.
Try to dumb him down and.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's like,you know, the guy, you know, this
guy was gonna pay 500, he wasgonna charge.

(01:32:41):
Him 500 think like he was, hewas gonna bite to the bottom feeder
thing.
Right?
Right.
So he was.
Yes.
So, like, it got me thinkingagain about, you know, for money.
Always talking about everybodyracing to the bottom.
Nobody's trying to race to the top.
And that's one of the biggestthings in this industry.
And so I went on chat gbt andI said, and I asked it, who are the

(01:33:06):
best people to listen to thattalk about knowing your worth?
And so this Brene Brown ladywas like, number one.
And here, I'll read you, I'll,I'll even read you the explanation
for that because it wasreally, really pretty cool.

(01:33:30):
So, so Bernee Brown she's bestfor emotional self worth, vulnerability
and boundaries.
Why she stands out.
She dives deep into theconnection between vulnerability
and strength.
She's not just inspirational,she's researched.
She's real, she's raw.
Her TED Talk on the power ofvulnerability is one of the most

(01:33:51):
watched for a reason.
Has like 22 million views on.
On YouTube.
And her top coat, her topquote is daring to set boundaries
is about having the courage tolove ourselves, even when we risk
disappointing others.
So, like, she was number one.
Number two was everybody'sfavorite, Gary V.

(01:34:14):
You know, so like, you know,so like, so I was like, I was like,
man, you know, like, thatwould be a really cool podcast to
do, you know, like, you know,to do something about knowing your
worth.
We talk about it all the time.
Everybody talks about it allthe time.
So I was like, chad, gbt, isit possible, able to reach out to

(01:34:38):
these people and see, see ifthey would come onto the podcast
knowing that I'm not a JoeRogan, I'm not a Gary Vee, I'm not
a, you know, whatever.
It's a small, small audience,dedicated audience, whatever.
And Chad, GPT is like, sohere's how you message Brene Brown.
Here's how you message Gary Vee.

(01:34:58):
And apparently Gary Veeanswers his own, own Instagram a
lot.
So it said, best thing to dois send him a dm.
So I was like, can you createa DM that I could send to Gary Vee?
So we're just waiting and.
And then Brene Brown wasthrough her agency, so I sent an
email.
So we'll see.

(01:35:18):
Maybe.
Maybe I'll get lucky.
Maybe I can land a big face tocome on and explain to detailers
why they need to know theirworth and not be so vulnerable and
not be scared.
And, and because that's.
Don't cut yourself out.
You got a badass podcast.
Thanks, man.
Your right mind would do it,you know, and.
Yeah, yeah, hopefully, lady.
They put their shoe.
They put their socks and shoeson just like.

(01:35:40):
Exactly.
But that's.
That's the one thing everytime I talk to people in this industry
that, you know, know better isthey always say the detailer's biggest
fault is self confidence.
And that's why, I don't know,200 bucks, you know, instead of 1200

(01:36:02):
bucks, you know, it's firm.
It's.
I'm set in my way.
I don't, you know, and I tellmy, I tell people when they come
in, especially I.
I don't talk prices.
Our prices are Our prices are set.
Our prices are fair, and thisis it.
If.
If you discuss price with me,I will walk you to the front door
and walk you out.

(01:36:22):
And I.
I'm very blunt, and I don'thide that to anybody.
And I said don't.
I don't say it to be rude.
I understand my worth.
I know what I bring to thetable, and I know what I'm gonna
offer you, you know, And I don't.
I'm not gonna sacrifice adollar to make you happy.
Exactly.
That's just not gonna work for me.
I've been in business.
It's worked well for me.
Right, Right.
And that's one of the things Ialways tell my wife, you know, when.

(01:36:44):
When, you know, we have ourlittle dips or whatever.
And she's, of course, like,why is everybody else busy?
And I'm like, becauseeverybody else is cutting prices
to be busy.
I.
I see it, I hear it.
And it's baby, all day long.
Right?
And it's the one thing Irefuse to do because, you know, I
learned it a long time agofrom one of the owners of the car

(01:37:05):
wash that I worked for when they.
When.
When we were discussing pricing.
And he always told me, you canalways increase your prices, but
the minute you lower yourprices, you're stuck.
Yeah.
So one of my buddies, one ofmy best friends, actually, he's body
pain guy.
Since I was a kid, you know,my buddies are all like seven, eight

(01:37:27):
years older than me, so, like,they've all been body and paint.
My best friend, my brother,they're all body paint, frame guys.
All they've been doing theirwhole life.
So this is where I cut myteeth, was, you know, doing this
with cars, you know, and onething that always stuck to me was
like, they were never cheap,they were never inexpensive.
They would always say, if youdo cheap work, you will be the cheap

(01:37:47):
guy.
And I always tell people, I.
I try to, you know, in terms.
I try to mimic myself as, youknow, I tell people that I'm like
the Louis Vuitton or Gucci ofdetailing, you know, And I don't
say that to sound like I'mbetter than somebody, but just so
they get a reference point ofme not being cheap, I'm not inexpensive.
And I tell people, you can goeverywhere else and they're going

(01:38:10):
to be less expensive than me,but the experience you get here,
the second you walk in thisdoor is going to be second to none.
And you leave this place, it'sgoing to be an even better experience
than you did when you walkedin, because you're going to leave
just as happy as you did whenyou walked in.
So, you know, my company's ap.
A perfect experience.
And that's.
I rounded that up on mycompany for the last 15 years.

(01:38:35):
And I've always, I've alwaystried to keep that good customer
service, you know, top tier,through the roof.
And whatever I can do to makemy customer happy, I will do it within
reason.
Well, I've.
I've always told people like,you know, I'm not looking for that
McDonald's cheeseburger client.
I'm looking for that Ruth'sChris cheeseburger client or Chula's

(01:38:59):
cheeseburger client client, orinsert whatever $30 cheeseburger,
you know, like, like that'sthe client I'm looking for.
Because on a beer budget,baby, right?
They, they understand whatthey're getting.
And then here's the otherthing too, that, you know, people
don't understand when they cuttheir prices or give a deal.

(01:39:21):
The minute you cut yourprices, the minute you give, you
give a deal.
You've now inherited a pain inthe ass client because they're gonna.
Because you give the cheapestprice, who are gonna be the pickiest
out the gate?
How many clients out of the shop?
Sergio?
A lot.
Absolutely.
Because.
Because they, yeah, definitely want.
Yeah.

(01:39:42):
Nothing.
And then the second they do,like, you give them what they're
asking for, they're gonnanitpick you to no end.
And how come, how come youdidn't get this?
How come that's not done?
How come.
Honest with you, this is whyI'm not busy like other shops.
You can have those clients.
I luckily, fortunately enoughget to cherry pick.
Yeah.
And I enjoy that because theclients who come in, they spend damn

(01:40:04):
good money and they get damngood results.
And I will leave no stone unturned.
And I will make sure that welook over that car three to four
different times before itleaves our shop.
Because they are paying a premium.
And I'm gonna.
Their premium is worth their dollar.
And not only that too, butpeople that know that, that, let's
say insert service name hereshould cost X amount of dollars,

(01:40:24):
right?
When they come back to pick itup, it's, oh, hey, man, looks great,
let's go ahead and get thistaken care of.
And they leave, you know, nowsomebody goes, well, I know it should
be this much, but come on,dude, can you do it for this?
This is all I got, you know?
And you're like, okay, yeah,I'll do it.
And then it's like, then, thenthey expect the higher price for

(01:40:46):
the higher price, service forthe lower price.
And then that's where they get nitpicky.
So, yeah, if you ain't got the.
Money and the jobs, then yourcar stays here till you pay.
Yeah, I don't take checks.
I'll throw it on the ground,it's not going to bounce.
You got to be careful withthat, though.
That could be considered grandtheft auto.

(01:41:07):
California.
Okay.
Because I've signed adocumented work order that says you,
that you're gonna pay that wehave put forward for you.
If you don't pay that I'mholding on to your keys.
You don't get.
No, that's a good one becauseI, I remember one time at the car
wash, I was talking to one ofthe regional managers and, you know,

(01:41:29):
and I said something about,well, you know, if they don't pay,
I just won't give them theirkeys back.
And he said, ah, you can't do that.
And I said, why?
He goes, he goes, let me tellyou a little story.
He goes, I did that one timeand the police showed up and said,
that's grand theft auto.
Give that his keys back orwe're arresting you.
And he's like, get the keys back.
Because I wasn't gettingarrested for this.
For this company.

(01:41:49):
Yeah.
200 detail or whatever.
Yeah, I mean that's, that's,Yeah, I guess.
Yeah.
If you have a work order sign.
Yeah.
Every client that comes in,we, we have one in your able, which
we have our work order there,which is, you know, the job for the
day.
But we also have a separateitem that my clients have to sign
that, you know, we're notresponsible for certain things.

(01:42:11):
You know, we're, you know, youhave agreed to pay, you know, x amount
of dollar on the bill that itwill be paid before the car is released,
yada, yada, yada.
And it's just safe keepings.
You know, I had one of my, myattorneys clients come in design.
He's like, who wrote this?
And I, I told him I had one ofmy buddies and he's like, this is
airtight for you, dude.
He's like, you can't even get,you can't get away with this.
I'm like, yeah, that's whatI'm talking about, dude.

(01:42:33):
So at least I know in thataspect I'm safe.
I did a licensing agreementagreement on Chat GPT for the podcast.
Yeah.
Somebody wanted to kind oflicense it and, and I showed it to
my client that's an attorney.
And he's like.
He's like, where'd you getthis made up?
I was like, chat GPT?

(01:42:53):
He's like, holy, dude.
He goes, I need to startlooking at chat GPT for some stuff
for the office, because thisis good.
And I was like, really?
He goes, yeah, he's really good.
He goes, I would have chargedyou a bunch of money to write basically
kind of the same thing.
And he goes, I don't even knowif I might have caught some of the
things that he might be able.
To get rid of his paralegaland hire Chad.

(01:43:15):
Exactly.
I told him.
I was like, dude, 20 bucks amonth, right?
Hell yeah, bro.
Worth every penny, man.
I mean, you know, getting backto the very beginning of our conversation,
it's still in infant stages.
This whole entire thing isstill a baby.
AI is still new.
Oh, dude.
Not brand new, but new.
But I mean, can you imaginewhere this is going to be in 20 years

(01:43:36):
from now?
Holy.
You're not even going to beable to think for yourself.
Good.
20 years, I probably won't beable to think.
Be able to think for myself.
You know the best part about.
The best part about dementiaevery day.
You're fine.
Yeah, exactly.
Well, man, hey, dude, that'sbeen awesome, man.

(01:43:58):
Hey, I'm.
I gotta run here shortly.
No, you're good, you're good.
We're, we're, we're at abouttime anyway, so.
Man.
Dude, it's two hours.
That's awesome, dude.
Yeah, I appreciate you jumping on.
You know, I was kind ofscrolling through this, Alex.
I do, man, that was cool.
No, man, yeah, I was scrolling.

(01:44:18):
I was scrolling throughmessenger and I was like, man, who
have I not, like, had on on?
And I was like.
I was like, I've never hadSean on.
I was like, so, yeah, sothat's why I messaged you.
And I was like, man, I knowit's kind of last minute, but I appreciate
it.
It's an honor.
Because I.
I enjoy your podcast, dude.
I like, listen, thank you, man.
I appreciate it.
You guys are on and stuff like that.

(01:44:38):
Or.
Yeah, you know, just viewingwhat you guys got going on and stuff.
But I'm not huge on thesethings because again, it's like that
nervous thing where like backin the day I was so for it.
Nowadays it's like, I don'tknow what to say anymore.
But this has been genuine oneon one conversation and it's not
been anything that's like,overly thought through.
No, man.
And I mean, honestly, like youknow, like middle last year, you

(01:45:01):
know, when it kind of clickedagain, talking about evolution, you
know, I needed to, to evolvethe podcasts to make it different
because it still had a stigmaon it, and I needed to do something
different.
And, you know, I was justlike, you know, this, this always
was supposed to be a get toknow the person.

(01:45:21):
And what's the best way to getto know the person other than just
having a conversation?
Like, I don't need to askquestions to get to know you.
I can just have a conversationto get to know you.
And, and that's, that's what'sreally kind of reinvigorated me,
you know, for the lastprobably five or six months with
the podcast is, is by doingthis, it's more fun, it's more genuine,

(01:45:45):
and, you know, it's easy to goan hour and 50 something minutes.
You know, I just looked up, then.
I looked at March, like, oh,I'm exactly.
Well, dude, it's, it's, it'sbedtime here for me, so.
Like, almost 10:00 there.
Yeah, exactly.

(01:46:06):
Hey, I, Again, thank you.
I mean, I, I genuinelyappreciate the invite.
I'm really glad that youthought of me.
And, you know, I hopewhoever's listening and watching
is taking something from theconversation and, you know, you,
you get to enjoy it or if youget to re.
Watch it.
You know, man, it's.
It's been nice, man.
So thank you.
Awesome, man.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, if it was a greatpodcast, it was, it was all because

(01:46:27):
of me.
If you don't like this one, itwas all Sean's fault because he was
a shitty guest.
I've been blamed foreverything, so it's all my fault.
Yeah.
Hey, man, I'm gonna let you run.
It's been a pleasure.
Thank you again.
I genuinely.

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