New Pads and Polisher Live In The Store! Plus a conversation on Professionalism. Episode #925
Pints and Polishing Auto Detailing Podcast
New Pads and Polisher Live In The Store! Plus a conversation on Professionalism. Episode #925
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Concept
private labeling
Private labeling means a company makes products that other companies sell under their own names. It helps brands have more products without making them themselves.
Company
Liquid Elements
Liquid Elements makes tools and products for cleaning and polishing cars. They focus on providing good quality items for car enthusiasts and detailers.
Part
polisher
A polisher is a machine that helps make a car's surface shiny by applying special liquids. It makes cleaning and polishing easier and faster.
Part
pads
Pads are the soft materials that attach to polishers to help clean and shine cars. They come in different types for different cleaning jobs.
Company
Late Country
Late Country is a brand that makes brake pads for cars, and they are based in the USA, which means their products are made domestically.
Term
retail price
Retail price is the price you see on a product when you buy it in a store. It's what you pay to get the item.
Company
Lake Country
Lake Country makes special pads that help clean and polish cars. Many people who care about their cars use these pads because they work really well.
Brand
Porsche
Porsche is a famous car brand from Germany that makes fast and luxury cars. They are well-known for models like the 911, which is a classic sports car.
Brand
Mercedes
Mercedes is another well-known car brand from Germany that makes luxury vehicles. They are famous for their comfortable and high-tech cars.
Term
forced rotation
Forced rotation is a way that some polishing machines work. They spin the pad in a way that helps to remove scratches and imperfections from the car's surface more effectively.
Term
D.A.
D.A. is short for Dual Action, a type of polishing machine that moves in two ways at once. It's safer for the car's paint and helps to polish it without causing damage.
Term
microfiber
Microfiber is a type of fabric made from very fine fibers. It's great for cleaning because it can pick up dirt and moisture without scratching surfaces.
Brand
BMW
BMW is a well-known German car brand that makes luxury cars, famous for their sporty performance and quality.
Brand
Audi
Audi is a car brand from Germany that makes luxury cars, known for their quality and technology.
Term
two step
A two-step process in car detailing means you first fix any scratches or imperfections and then polish the surface to make it shiny.
Term
one step
A one-step process in car detailing means you do everything in one go, fixing scratches and making the car shiny at the same time.
Term
foam pad
A foam pad is a cleaning pad made from soft foam material. It's used for polishing and buffing cars, and different types can help with different tasks, like removing scratches or applying wax.
Term
priming
Priming is when you soak a cleaning pad with product before using it. This helps the pad work better and prevents it from scratching the surface of the car.
Term
pad washer
A pad washer is a device that cleans the pads used for polishing cars. It helps keep the pads fresh and effective while you work on the car.
Term
hazing
Hazing is when the paint on a car looks cloudy or dull instead of shiny. This can happen if the polishing pads are dirty or if they are not used correctly.
LIVE
Welcome to the pints and polishing podcast. The most influential and listen to podcast in auto detailing. Welcome to the community.
Most listeners are really curious. They're on anticipation. Nick, they're ready. They're ready for the next hyper clean drop. Unfortunately, this isn't a hyper clean brand to drop.
Huh? It's a little bit different for us. Something that we haven't done in a while. So why don't you, you know, drum roll? Let's go. What do we got coming?
Yeah, I mean, pretty exciting. As you guys know, we dropped our polish lineup, compound polish in one step. And we've been working behind the scenes about, you know, what we really wanted to do long term with pads and machines and all that kind of stuff.
And yeah, we got, we've made the choice as a brand to really concentrate on the things that we make. And just so everybody's aware, you know, we're not going to make machines, you know, that's not in our future.
So there's really no reason to private label a machine. It's really just to go out and find a good machine and, you know, go out and find good pads. Because again, it's very easy to private label a machine. It's very easy to private label pads, as you and I know.
But I think you and I both know we've kind of taken this journey over the last couple years with a lot of different things and said, I think there's some things that's better just to partner with good companies.
And so we'll be bringing in, initially, one of the machines we're bringing in is the liquid elements five inch polisher. And we're going to be bringing in late country pads.
The definitely people that have been around will go, Hey, well, why not? Right? I just message I got right message. You probably got this. Let's go for a second and go. Why did we choose not to, you know, put our label on a tool? You know, why do we not want to put that on pads? Like, you know, you could you could use your
expertise and, you know, you could go find the best that that we could import, you know, like, like we did before, right? We have a bunch.
By the way, you don't have to import. I mean, we had, you know, local to the US people sending us pads to test to build our own, you know, our own lineup of pads. I mean, you know, there's a lot of private labeling going on in the pad industry here in the US. It doesn't even have to be international anymore.
You know, part of it is, you know, where's our time best spent? And part of it is when we when I started to test pads, I think a lot of the private label stuff just doesn't pass the muster of what late country is doing right now. And the other thing is late country, you know, in the pad business, you know, they're they're USA made. That's not always possible for us to partner with USA made companies. But when we can, we want to do that.
And they build a high to me, they're building the best pads out right now. And so, you know, if we go down the path of doing our own thing, right? And we were way down that path, just so everybody knows like I have a zillion pads here from all kinds of manufacturers.
It was a headache. There was some unprofessional behavior at times that, you know, didn't sit well with you and I. And, you know, when I started to use the new HD O CCS stuff from from late country and I don't mean like new like it's been out, you know, just this week but, you know, the newer stuff that they've put together.
I think 110% it's it's the great decision for us and also it's the right decision for our customers. Right. As I just want to make sure you guys get the highest quality stuff.
So that's the interesting part, right, because liquid elements.
It, I, you know, I don't know, you know, until until we cut it out of the box and pulled the trigger, don't really know much about it. The thing that people always seem to think is like, man, it's actually is very good quality.
Surprisingly for the sticker price.
Yeah, it's it's 230 bucks for a five inch retail price for for all you listening. It's it's a machine that I didn't expect to like.
Hmm, right. So I have worked with every major manufacturer of tools, you know, everybody knows the big names. We were working with with one of those names and, you know, didn't get the right vibe and, you know, kind of said,
there's some issues I have with some tools and some things and some behaviors. And so we went a different direction. And actually, we were going to kind of punt on machines.
At one point it was just kind of like, I don't want to and we'll be bringing in other machines guys from another brand as well. This is just our first foray into all of this.
I wanted to get something that's very user friendly, easy to get going, good price point. But once I started using it, I found myself not reaching for this other brand that we were thinking about bringing in.
It stalls less than than most of the big brands DA's. It's got a hell of a lot of torque. It's got a perfect price point for those of you that are just like, Hey, I need an extra machine or I need to buy a machine and want to try something new.
But also, it doesn't have the massive stalling issue that some of the brands have out there. And so as I used it more,
you're just too busy to do that. I'm glad I gave this a shot and it was the right company to bring in.
It's got some some cool little features. One that I thought was pretty unique. Definitely if anybody's a Star Wars fan, you're gonna, you're gonna like the color almost like a stormtrooper, you know, I don't know.
You just kind of feel that vibe. But but I think that that cord, the way it pops off. I think that's that's a really unique thing that people are because people don't realize some do but most don't.
Most of the damage to the tool comes right there where that cord inserts. And if the wires get loose causes other problems inside the tool, most time that wire gets loose because everybody grabs it and then wraps that, you know, wraps extension cord wraps the cord around
the tool so that that little bend right there creates actually a lot of problems. So having one that removes.
Hey, detachable cord is nice. Like it's a nice feature. I mean, everything about the tool. And again, guys, we wouldn't partner with anybody that we didn't think had something to bring to the table.
I think they bring a lot to the table. And I'm not mean as a brand I mean as the tool, the detachable cord, very, very smooth, relatively quiet, really solve the major stalling and torque issues that one of the big brands have out there.
Relatively quiet because I think that's what everybody always talks about. You did mention German instead of Asian. So a lot of Asian tools that would also say are a lower priced, many would, you know, the complaints about those the negative feedback are the sounds that high pitch whirling sound.
Yeah, it's pretty much it's it's minimum. I mean, look, I think all tools sound like that. It's just whatever one's minimized, right? So this one's minimized. And like I said, you need to accept the tool for what it is.
Great price price point. Nice to have an extra one. Nice to get your start. Nice to just try something out the price point and what you get right now.
I think it is the best value in the polishing market but you're not giving anything anything up for one of the big DA brands out there you're actually I think the performance is better.
I think the performance is way better. I'm just so astonished by the stalling issue still being a thing that I don't care how the tool sounds. I mean, I just can't believe we're still in that place. So to me, solving that being relatively lightweight, relatively quiet, very smooth.
It feels good when it's in your hand it kind of balances itself it's got a good balance to the tool. And when you start pairing it with the late country that we selected like guys I've
for everybody doesn't know I don't have a bunch of time to polish cars every day all the time right.
Every one of my guys myself you when you use it I mean we had it in some some big events that that that you know we're very private style with a lot of usage.
People just can't believe how good the tool is and so it starts with it's a good tool. Then you look at the price then you look at the other things and it's it's pretty incredible.
And one of the the Nick isms behind the scenes was you know at 230 bucks or something goes wrong. Listen just get another one.
You're still ahead of the curve like yeah I haven't spent much you and I started looking at and we're going to bring in what people recognize as a more like higher end brand right more established brand at some point.
We've already been in talks with them. You're getting to some price points that polishers really need to perform a lot better than what they're performing for some of the prices that are being asked today.
And I understand price goes up inflation all that I'm not trying to tell people what to charge but as a guy who's bought hundreds of machines in the last 15 years literally.
I think the price has gotten into a very head scratching moment for some of these brands.
Yeah. And as we say for some people probably very literally use those. Is that a word literally.
You might want to reword that as little as somebody may use their tool. It's better just to go with a but again I don't think you're giving up anything.
I mean that's the thing I wouldn't bring it in just for price alone. You could you could state that just as a company policy.
We're not going to bring anything in just because of the price point. I want something I would use. I want something I'd be proud to use. This fits all of that.
And again guys it's just a start for you know something to be in our sort of paint correction lineup that allows you to to come together and get what you need.
All right. So let's talk about I know you briefly have gone over the pads for a minute of why we chose late country. Right.
American made is as we're American manufacturers. We definitely also you know we immediately give those people other manufacturers in America kind of already give them a level up when we start talking to them.
But but overall we did love the pads. We love everything about that. What they do. Let's go over the uniqueness of the ones that you chose. Right.
Because like country has a bunch of pads and no we did not bring all the pads into HQ.
And we did make did specifically we know it's part of when we were doing the cut the abrasives right like we had to pair them with something we had to begin working with something when you know I got to send them a sample up there and he's got to give me feedback.
You know we had to have in a sense of basis to go off of as a big part of what Lake Country began to do is hey these are some great pads that we love and we can build the system off of.
They're not the backbone but but a lot of what we did came around with here we're going to pair it with these pads. Yeah.
So you know look we we I'm a big fan of their low lent wool but you know talking to Lake Country working with their pads you know thinking about all you guys out there you seem to gravitate more towards microfiber.
I mean they said unequivocally very and you know a lot of those guys inside Lake Country would tell you like hey I like the low lent wool a little better too and but most people still gravitate towards microfiber so we took that.
And we started using it so you know for for heavy cutting you know the blue microfiber.
Is an awesome experience you know I'm used to wall kind of flying places you know that doesn't bother me I think some people probably hate it microfiber is a little cleaner at times but it's a great heavy cutting pad good interface.
That was the number one reason for that then the other microfiber we brought in is sort of like you know and it's the blue and the orange is the backing that's it's not actually blue fibers or orange fibers is there's a backing.
The orange one is sort of to me a good one step pad.
If you get a little bit harder clear you know you know just a little bit past medium you know you need to get one step and you want to put you know some some some below and you want to kind of go to work and have a nice finish.
But again if you just need a lighter cut on softer paints you know you don't need the blue pad you want to go with the with the orange microfiber.
So that's that's a very different experience for me I didn't do a lot of one steps with microfiber but it's definitely really clean leaves a good finish.
Last microfiber pad I used was that buff and shine.
They call it pepper pad right that was like a Euro came out and was kind of like a big front runner for a moment but but yeah Lake country and there there's just began to dominate and begin to know it's it's a it's a good pad man it's it's a really good pad I'm glad we use it.
But then you know you kind of get into two foams right and we have everything in the in the five and the three inch just everybody knows we have five inch five and three inch when we bring in some more tools we may try to go down a size you know bring in a one inch to let guys do some more intricate work but I don't think there's a large market for that I don't think a lot of you guys are doing all of that all the time so.
And there's plenty of punches that you can use to just punch out your own one inch pad so I just think we want to keep it simple for people so when you get into the foam this is this is kind of an interesting thing for me is that.
You have this blue foam which you and I had a one pad once upon a time that was this blue foam everybody liked and this is essentially a replicable you know replica of that and there's another great one step pad medium to soft clears.
You know put some Velo on it cycle it through but also if you do a deep cut on some harder paints with the with the blue microfiber you can step down to the blue and get a nice finish on some harder clears right use use our polish and all that kind of stuff.
Now you went with not just traditional like flat foam right there's some like little they don't call them bubbles they're not waffles just indentations just and the whole idea behind that which I kind of appreciate walking through with late country is it's a it's a cooling thing.
It allows the pad and the panel to stay a little cooler and I think anytime we can do that that's a positive right the other thing is I actually enjoy it you know.
I think the pad kind of operates a little better than a flat pad I mean I got so many flat pads here with nothing on them that I could test it right up against it's a great pad it's a great experience that's what's important to me.
And then you go to a little bit softer foam with the orange foam which I think a lot of guys will use on medium to soft clears and you know a lot of guys use that orange for a lot of things I mean I see a lot of one steps with that orange foam.
You know with something like below but works great with Luxe and that's kind of our system right so we could have brought in more options right because there's endless options.
But every time we bring in more options people get more confused right and I don't really want that I want to say if you stay in these four pads you're going to be able to tackle.
Everything you run into and we put it through soft pillars and all this kind of stuff and they have a really soft black pad.
But I've been really soft pads just never have been something that I enjoy using it kind of rolls and folds on itself and it's kind of hard to keep things operating.
But we have the ability look if we see technology change if we see clears change we see a need for it we can bring it in from Lake Country and that was the other big thing about partnering with a big company is that when you do stuff private label it's very hard to change your system.
But understand if there's any kind of and I've been told there's something that's going to be debuting at SEMA.
If it's great it can come right into our system right and that's the big thing for me as guys anybody that's private labeling pads let me tell you they can't stay up to date with technology it costs too much.
The amount they have to order the amount they have to put into marketing the amount they have to do everything you're kind of stuck with your system for quite some time.
And I just didn't really want that if there's new innovation if there's new ways to help you guys enjoy these processes we wanted to be able to do that.
I see you've kind of sectioned off you know as far as hard and clear soft clear but what about more like some specific models do you ever like hey you know on a Porsche I'm probably always going to reach for fill in the blank right like.
Mercedes you know some of these can walk us through I know some people are going to start to question that right the one thing they're going to go what's the price and then they're going to say oh what can I use it on.
Yeah I mean I think we're seeing so many different people polish so many different ways it's hard to say this pad and this combo is going to work for you.
There's guys that go with a lot of down pressure light pressure they let the tool do the work they you know they used I mean if you use a forced rotation your selections going to be different than the guy using the D.A.
And so my rule of thumb has been I don't I kind of bring everything out to do my test spot and then I choose what works the best.
I mean if you're on softer clears you can probably say that the blue microfiber is not going to be necessary you're going to be able to cut a lot out with that intermediate you know orange microfiber then go back with the with an orange pad and get get your result.
You know harder clears and I you know look you're an Audi BMW territory those kind of things.
I mean I think if you're doing a two step you're reaching for you know blue microfiber cut it out get it done as fast as possible and probably coming back with the blue foam and knocking out the polish and you're done you know you're ready to go.
One step is I think where guys are going to have a little a lot of flexibility.
I could see a day in a shop let's say with three different cars where you're using Velo with the orange microfiber you're using Velo with the blue you're using Velo with the orange three separate cars three separate finishes.
And so really what I would tell guys is if you buy into our system.
It's probably worth buying all of the pads at some level just to have them and then do your test spot because I really think like we had a Maybach in here that I did a video on and you're talking about.
The blue worked tremendous on one step but there was other stuff I needed to cut out with the blue microfiber and then I had to go back and do the blue with some polish and stuff like that like.
The whole thing of our system the three abrasives that we have and the four pads that we brought in is about building the most flexible system for you to use your way and your style but also with what you come across.
Right like I think too many guys are trying to solve the same riddle when it's never the same riddle all the time.
Hmm. Okay. All right. So there is a riddle that we kind of jokingly talk about so I'll kind of throw it to you to see if you can answer the riddle.
Because one of the things that people always like to talk about is you know like we mentioned price what things cost what can I use them on that that is it.
They always want to know what can I do to get this done like do I put you know right this is the fun one that will go back to how many dots are how much do I put on to prime the pad.
Right. The reason why I jokingly bring it up because we have a joke about priming but I want you to talk about the difference of a microfiber pad and then a foam pad like you know do we do we go into this moment of.
Of priming you know like Mildren and get a shovel out or you know how do I prime a microfiber pad versus a foam pad you know is there a difference.
Yeah I I've tested that a lot and by the way long before I was you know part of hyper clean that that had become big and I was working with some people that are very big into that.
Some of those guys even had brought it to the forefront.
I don't.
I'm still just like I feel with foam is how I feel with microfiber.
I think just loading up your pad with debris which you know everything is debris to a pad right so compound and polish has some type of debris in your pad then you have clear coat being cut out then you have maybe some.
You know over spray you didn't see you know that that gets caught up in the pad or you didn't get off quite enough.
So I still say you stay with the same thing guys I mean I'm sort of a four and five dot guy no matter which pad I'm using I don't I don't really change that.
And I've never seen proof in front of my and I've had everybody who's big on that do it in front of me.
I don't see a different result I just see a pad that has to be blown out a lot more.
I see a pad especially with microfiber that becomes way too clogged up too easily.
I just again to each their own you and I are very easy on this.
If you found a way and you found an amount of product that works for you.
Great.
Okay.
But to me for those asking I'm still a four or five dot guy.
So you mentioned the user right like user experience while I'm using it does it gum up right that is a thing on some microfiber pads and combined with some others of their compounds or polishes right I mean we got to go back to why there's a system and and how you know Velo is a perfect one to talk about it.
It will be what we say is the dominant right like and so when Velo is used with a microfiber pad.
Everybody is going to be different.
Once again thanks for pointing that out.
You have a system though of trying to do what a couple panels and then switch.
But let's say you know they're not going to stick with that system.
How will this pad interact you know is this they want to blow them out.
Is this a yeah you better you better blow them out.
You know I know there's some pad washer stuff obviously we're in business now with Lake Country as a supplier.
I'm probably going to give that pad washer a look.
I mean to be fair to everybody that made a joke about I haven't given it its paces you know we're not I'm not that worried about it.
But for everybody that has never heard me talk before I'm a pad per panel guy.
Like that's that's my whole thing I'll just wash them at the end.
I just think it's the cleanest way the easiest way it's always worked for me.
I don't I mean two small fenders I may use the same pad you know the two front fenders or something like that.
I may just you know go side to side and use one pad there if they're small enough.
But I've just always found the one pad method but yeah if you're using microfiber foam in today's world and you're not going to do that.
You're either pad washer or blowing it out and you're not going to get away.
I mean but by the time you go two or three panels deep and you haven't done that you're going to see some effects.
I mean you're going to see some tick marks you're going to see some hazing you're going to see it.
I mean just flat out not work right.
So the clean pad is that is is is now is a non negotiable that's been a non negotiable as long as you and I you know have been around.
So whatever you choose it doesn't change with this.
And I'm sure a lot of you guys are late country people now you know and again I think they're doing it the best as we sit here today.
But if something changes in the future and somebody starts doing it better the part of the reason we're doing it this way is we want to be able to go with whatever is the best at the time and not be beholden to this private label game that quite frankly I just
didn't find when we went through all those steps that was that valuable to our customer.
So you said that people can you know take care of blowing them out how they they feel fit.
Does that include the tournador.
Yeah it seems to be a big thing.
I mean people like it.
No Nick I get you're signing off on they can use a tournador.
I mean let's move on so we're all clear.
I don't blow out pads.
So whatever you guys want to use that's that's between you guys.
But your best friend the tournador you're going to go ahead and get ahead.
There may be a new tool for for blowing out pads.
I'll have to give a run as well.
Okay a new tool.
All right.
Well so Nick you sent me a video last week and I really enjoyed the video and especially you know right now football season there's a lot of you know let's get moving type of videos.
This video that you sent me was from an ex football coach.
It wasn't necessarily a hype type video though you know it was was more of a process of life in a sense kind of like and and he said this he said did you do your best to be the best you could be no matter what you chose to do.
I'll say that one more time like because he was saying basically in a sense if you lay down at night or if you take a moment to look at yourself or have those moments we're just driving right.
Hmm sometimes we can have those moments to ourselves when we're driving and that that tick that little itch that little feeling comes back.
And and so this guy was asking did you do your best to be the best you could be no matter what you chose to do.
It's a good video.
I mean it's a good video good quote.
I think it kind of leads into to something you and I are seeing behind the scenes and we always try to bring stuff that might be relevant to anybody listening out there that might be relevant is to place you are in your business or life or just whatever.
And I think I look at that and in our line of work and the things we've been involved with.
I'd say it you know right now one of the head scratchers that this relates to is professionalism.
Right.
Like we see a really big problem in professionalism and what guys I mean either understand or don't understand about it how they represent themselves be that to vendors like us to customers to anybody in between.
All right.
So let's break that word down.
Do you mean people that are paid pro detailers and DIYers are you differentiated that way is that what you mean by professional.
No I mean I think you could do that but I think it's anything in life you know how you deal with people and you know what your name means in the world.
Right.
So you and I have talked about this.
I mean one of the things that was probably a lot more prevalent and older generations leading to our generation was.
You know dads used to talk a lot about.
Hey you're you have my name.
This is how we do things.
This is what our name stands for.
I don't know that that's happening or not happening now.
You know at a high level.
I know what you and I see is that people don't really seem to oftentimes care what their name means in the marketplace.
Yeah.
Yeah.
My bad.
My dad was huge.
I thought you were you're going to say what their name and then you said marketplace but my dad was huge on this.
It was huge on his name and I better not.
Right.
That's what you tell me.
I better not have somebody tell me something you did to embarrass me.
Yeah.
Right.
Because of course we were very religious.
So then it meant that he didn't want to even be then embarrassed inside of the church.
Right.
Like it was embarrassed to whatever you know socially but then but then that embarrassment on top of it.
Oh it was heavy.
You know and I when I say heavy even to listen guys even to remembering the time as we were starting to move into the national scene.
And I bet you even on one of the trips right before he passed would have been when I came to met you and even on those trips.
I would be saying goodbye to him.
But I remember.
Yeah.
But whose name you represent.
I'm like yeah.
No it was a big 30 something years old.
I'm 42 like whatever it's like.
Yeah.
How the hell man.
For people that didn't have for the people that didn't have that.
My dad was big like you know hustling in sports like hey if you're yeah if you get pulled out of a game you don't walk to the bench you run.
You know you're wearing my name and those kind of things.
I mean it was a serious for those that didn't grow up that way because I don't know how everybody's raised.
If you had that instilled in you kind of one of the good things that comes out of it is you kind of think about that as you get older when you're dealing with people and business and life.
You know I'm very big on that with my guys when they're out in public working on behalf of VR like hey guys we don't do that.
You know I don't know where you guys got that we don't represent our company that way those types of things so it is still part of my life.
But I think if it's not part of your life is kind of what you and I are seeing an influx of we're seeing that you know guys will regularly ask people like us for favors.
Okay and I kind of liken this to hey guys if you have to borrow your neighbor's lawn mower you probably go over to his house and push the lawn mower to your yard you don't ask him for his lawn mower and then have him push the lawn mower over to your house.
You mow your yard you probably take some moments and you clean it up for him.
Maybe you replace some gas that you used.
They're just sort of like normal things that you do.
But yet you and I will get asked for a lot of favors and then people won't perform those types of things.
And by the way I hear this from every brand.
I hear this from every owner out there that owns a brand and it got us thinking about having this conversation about professionalism and it really stems from not that you have to worry about what another human being thinks of you right.
I don't want to like instill that that's not what you're doing.
You just want everybody to go no matter what they say about you.
You didn't do the wrong things in the moment.
You did them on a high level to a high standard and you can always defend it.
Whether you ever do business with those people or something happens you don't see eye to eye.
You did so in a professional manner and you did so in a straight up manner and that's the end of the day.
I think some people when they're listening they might be going well where do I not.
Where am I not professional.
Right.
Like I think most of us are going to start analyzing themselves into this moment because right.
I know that because we get sometimes like hey you're talking about me right.
Like people from people right like so.
So that it tells us and I know then that that is great and this is why we do it.
So then our listeners will analyze their own actions.
OK.
So if they're going to analyze their actions and they go where would my unprofessionalism seep out.
Right.
The lowest hanging fruit.
Go ahead.
I'll let you take it.
I was talking to Bill down the street.
Right.
No.
Social media.
Of course.
What people post like.
And it's like how do you set it.
And it's like you could be you could beat it over.
How do you all not realize other people are seeing.
Yeah.
What you post.
Yeah.
So you know the inside.
Let's let everybody in on the inside joke.
So you and I have some group chats with a lot of different people a lot of different backgrounds
a lot of different levels of success in their life.
And I'm telling you people that are successful.
Don't goof around on the Internet.
Like they just don't.
I don't care what you believe.
Now if you go well this guy is super successful and all of his beliefs are out there and he's
yeah he's making money off of those beliefs.
There's a team.
There's a team putting out very highly constructed stuff.
And then that's OK.
But I don't care what anybody does on social is probably where you and I should should
say out loud right here.
It's your social media.
You're going to do what you want.
But the one thing we always joke and everybody is starting to say now because you and I make
this joke all the time is I think there's a lot of people that don't believe everybody
can see what they're doing on the Internet.
Like they expect that you're seeing it but they don't they don't think they're going
to be negatively affected by it.
And you and I have watched people.
Let's use a story so everybody doesn't think this is just some gray area conversation where
there's a lot of people in the detailing industry that are angling to be a part of a brand our
brand other brands whatever.
OK.
And maybe they're mad that that's not happening for them.
And they're like you know these other people have been picked up by brands but I haven't
been picked up by a brand.
You don't understand the politics behind the scenes.
But you go I don't know man.
I've been watching you post on social for years now.
And I got to tell you no brand is going to take you on.
And it isn't because they maybe they don't like you as a human being or they can't have
a beer with you.
But the social media behavior is so erratic that they can't associate with you.
And you're getting increasingly mad but you're not thinking to yourself.
How is everybody viewing all of this constant posting on the Internet.
All right.
So to go over some things that we're talking about we've seen people recently walk through
big big block stores again still doing that same thing.
You know with the video camera.
But this time instead of towards the the products it's it's at them.
Right.
And they're talking about X Y Z whatever.
Right.
And in in in that moment they're coming across a certain way.
There's there's people that use which we love using AI.
We love chat GBT.
We love we love all technology.
But then some people like the same as you complaining.
But they look back if you look back at their posts you go well maybe some people aren't
sure which ones you which ones.
Yeah that's a good.
So yeah we watched it for years make posts where it was hard to put three and four sentences
together.
And now you're writing diatribes of pages long stuff and everybody goes yeah I mean we're
all kind of cool with the chat GBT and the AI but this doesn't feel real.
And now they're going to judge you for that right so part of using AI is to use it intelligently.
It's kind of funny about you know artificial intelligence that now we got to talk about
using intelligence intelligently which we talked about a few episodes ago.
But again you know there's always a freedom of speech thing guys everybody's allowed
to say what they want we're allowed to say what we want on our platforms all of you the
same thing.
But that doesn't mean you're free from being judged.
That doesn't mean that like we saw you know a very big political assassination take take
hold here in the last three to six weeks very sadly for that guy and his family.
And we saw people get fired because of their reaction to that we saw people get ostracized
and everybody wants to cry freedom of speech.
I'm with you.
That doesn't mean you're free from accountability of somebody judging you.
And I think that's what people miss about the Internet is hey man the minute you start
playing on the Internet you're playing playing in this free and open marketplace for everybody
to judge you take it from a guy who's had several viral moments over the last year with
millions upon millions of views across all platforms.
It's not a friendly place.
It's not a friendly place even when you're shooting the shit about cars.
So I think everybody needs to understand that when we say professionalism it really encompasses
a lot more than people think and how you deal with things is pretty important.
Okay great I'm glad you mentioned there's one more right.
So so we talked about hey you know in the big box stores or you know where that guy we
want to talk about products not a great professional spot right we that we wouldn't think most of
us would go yeah that doesn't look very professional.
Sure.
Now you and I could also go listen that guy did a professional style video song right we
could say you could still do but most of people right if we're going to take some low hanging
fruit most of people going in to dog the big box stores in those places or like I said
you know flip the camera around and you know those people are talking about how hard it
is right now for others hearing about how hard it is out there not a great professional
look if you're a business talking about you're you're going through hard times right there's
another right you mentioned a political where do we fall into as professionals you know
is that we ever going to give an opinion on on something that's going on in culture.
Sure I mean look you can always do that we may end up doing it somewhere in in time you
know this last political incident we may have felt compelled to say something that's fine
I don't begrudge anybody for stating their opinion but you also then have to live with
the consequences and I think that's what people want to do they want to you know ask for a
favor and then not deal with the consequences of what it means to reciprocate said favor
you know pay an invoice quickly or you know whatever it is like I said borrowing your
neighbors lawnmower hey man he gave you a favor you need to fill it up you need to probably
clean it up for him you probably need to walk it back over to his house that's part of the
favor man all right here's the story from HQ I keep my old mobile generator I've kept
it I've kept it the last one that I bought I'd never sold I never I'd when I sold the
business never got rid of it and I just I've kept one well but last year when we had a
freeze here I keep it and that's the reason why I use it so I can we can run some stuff
well I knew a buddy his house after we got our electricity back he still needed one here
man yeah right you of course right yeah everybody's going to go here use mine Nick I wish I could
tell you the next week I wish I could tell you the next month I wish I could tell you with
even the same calendar here no it took multiple visits took multiple times seeing him and then
finally at a at a public event at a soccer game seeing him with all the family and joking
about it I finally got that generator brought back yeah and so what what happens now you're
probably never get to borrow it again yep and again you start talking about what's the
effect of that you burnt a bridge over just not returning a generator now extrapolate that to
bigger things to smaller things and to everything in between a lot of the opportunity that I've
gotten in my life and that you can probably say you got in your life is because somebody
assumed you were going to act correctly whatever that is right they're like hey you know I get
invited to a lot of like black tie events and hey my customers putting on this charity event
and there's this golf tournament and there's this thing and there's this this and there's this that
I get invites every week to something I know people that have been in the business longer than me
they don't get invited to anything I think one of the fun things when you've talked to me about
that as you go one reason why you get invited and one reason why other people lose the reason to
get invited is you could go back to what was that coach that was sitting at sitting there watching
some big play and everybody else had their phone and he was just watching right like there's a
professionalism even at the events to where if you act like an idiot taking pictures of everything
and being that guy that is out of place you'll never get really invited back yeah I mean look
we've talked to people about collection work because that's kind of like our specialty here in
Vegas and I tell people this all the time put the phone away put the phone away wow that's just
cool car I know and everybody that's done it my way has been offered more and more collections
more and more work for that collection or other collections everybody that's done it the opposite
way oh yeah man I lost those collections I don't know what guys people that have car collections
that aren't on the internet act in like a fool with their car collection they're ultra private
people they don't actually want people to know that they have a huge house or 10 huge homes or
the ultra wealthy don't actually flaunt their wealth but because you guys see people playing wealthy
on the internet not actually super wealthy you think that's how wealthy people act the truth is
most wealthy people don't want anybody to know you have customers like that I have customers like
that they don't want anybody to know now there's some of them they're like hey man you know you can
use my cars I'd love for it to help your business and now if they gave me the permission then
that's me acting professionally because that person okayed the whole deal right but there comes
a point in all of this that big or small you know we talked about borrowing a generator
bar on a lawnmower to being invited to the highest end stuff there is a professionalism that people
expect that invited you to those places or lent you that generator or doing a favor as a vendor
that you have to reciprocate you know we're talking about one of our big customers behind the scenes
that most people don't know about and one of the things is if they want us to keep working on
projects they probably need to put in another order to play good business partner and they haven't
been the best business partner because they don't operate with that professionalism therefore
they don't get all the bells and whistles of working with us right because you got to handle them
in a certain way and again all they really have to do is just be a better business partner so there
are a lot of you guys that ask us these types of questions all the time and the best way I can
explain it is yeah man I don't talk crazy on the internet there's a real reason for that that doesn't
mean I don't have opinions like the rest of you we all have opinions but those opinions stay between
me and a friend me and a family member privately and not acting crazy on the internet because again
that is the judgment place whether you like it or not or I like it or not you and I have been judged
endlessly and we've had to take the repercussions of having a podcast we've had to take repercussions
of making content and you and I've never complained about the repercussions because we signed up for it
so the minute you turn that camera on and you start making a political stance or you start making
some stance or you're always complaining about something the world is watching now to what extent
that world and how big it is kind of becomes irrelevant but you are being judged fairly
or unfairly that's how it works okay but there's a lot of people that will go listen as I progress
in my life and as my income continues to increase either in my own mind or actually in my bank account
um you know there there's this theory and it's this idea and whether that was it was biggie or
Tupac but only God can judge me now right like I mean there is this theory that you know there's
nobody can judge me like hey I am me I am the company I'm I'm right and it's just ah right
that beat the chest that is a theory nobody can judge me but you mentioned a word there
but I think is I think I want people to get it because I'm a I'm a four headed person myself right like
being born in April what's that in the Aries is around like I'm four head like I let me push through this
like I get the no judgment right I don't I don't really care for what people say about me like it doesn't matter
right I'm I'm that kind of guy too so I'm with you but I want us to hold on for a second
and think about that word repercussion yep because even though as an Aries and somebody that can
ram through a lot of things like you know I've learned some repercussions about pushing my body too far
of of going too far on my own and not having a team around I've learned repercussions about things
I say for instance like you mentioned things we used to talk about we we learned repercussions
on well is it warranty will it actually increase something or did this kind of just waste our time
where we just kind of in a sense like treading water we weren't really swimming anywhere right
like what are the repercussions of what I put out I guess that's a that's a chess move isn't it
yeah I mean it's not easy about your repercussions you're somebody that's forward thinking like
like hey okay what's gonna happen if I do this you know should I always be concerned that way I
I don't know yeah seem to be a professional thought yeah people always ask me and I mean a lot of people
hey you don't comment in this group and I said no I comment in our group and I don't think it's my place
to go into another products group I actually had somebody say that to me like why don't you go say something
you know that that I go that's that's a product brand's group I'm not that's not me
and part of it is I just want to be able to go yeah I'm not a part of that that's their brand group
and they're allowed to have one like we have one the hyper clean specialist group on Facebook and
hey we worry about our people and our customers and the things we can control but largely I learned
you know a lot in the last five years you know being on the internet you know pretty ironically right
we're sitting here talking about that but you know even before that I just I never saw my customers
looking at that as a professional thing you know they would make comments over the years about
you know they had to deal with an issue in their office because so and so did something on a
on their business page that they didn't authorize and they had huge staffs and we're dealing with the fallout
and what a headache this has become and as I started to grow I just found it a lot easier to interact with people
like a lot of you privately but the other thing is I just didn't see that I could other than creating
content like we do you know things about our product or you know talking about things on our podcast
I didn't I didn't actually see that I could benefit very much you know so I just thought there was way
more negative and you see it now look at all these guys that test products you know it's just a pure
content play right cool man I don't have anything against that but it's not actually anything other
than content it's entertainment you know I would find other things much more entertaining than that
but then we want to look at it and those people go behind the scenes to us man I'd like a deal
and I'd like to work with it and it goes well you just reviewed 700 different brands how is that
going to work because it was never a thought about how does my future look it was how do I get a view
and this is your big thing there's a lot of people that live on likes they don't live on what's actually
good business decisions and I can tell you as somebody now you and I can safely say through clutch culture
that we get millions of views every month and it's one of the wildest things to say
and boy those likes just don't mean a whole lot it's very appreciated and I love when people like our content
but there's way more negative attitude that gets and wears on you from from people just being trolls on the internet
those likes those those lose value very quickly and you just want to do good stuff you just want to be a
professional person you just want to try to give people good information and have a decent time and maybe entertain some people
but there's people that are living for likes and they're getting the same 10 likes the same 10 people
the same three people they don't realize it they've been screaming into the abyss for I mean you and I know people
in a detailing space they've been screaming into social media for five six seven years and nothing good has come of it
and by the way that's their page they're allowed to do what they want I don't want people to lose sight of that
but they also don't realize the repercussions that people look at your stuff and go we don't want to work with them
yeah I keep thinking this word because we we asked the question internally you know when we were talking about this is like why
why do people think it's okay to fill in the blank right like post what they post go in the group say what they say
right all of we talked about unprofessional behavior
why do we think or why did what's the what's the theory behind that people think it's it's okay and I'm I mean here's the word normalization
it became so normal in a sense that we all just thought that that's what we were supposed to do
you know we we were asked a question growing up well you know if somebody asked you to jump off that building would you jump off
yeah that was a that was a big 90s reference right there
fucking always now today I think they just talk about all the people you like
yeah it's so different it really is like thinking of the word normalization right so
in in in society right it's something I've learned normalization if you if you let's just say this
way if you talk about suicide like it's something that happens on a regular basis which it does sure
but news and other people really try not to talk about it because if you normalize it then other people go
oh well I guess I can do that then I go ahead and actually suicide rates go up yeah as we over the years begin to see
people post things and you mentioned some specific like influencer s type uh maybe we can think of some people that grew
their likes and grew their followers and so we gave them this idea that they were somebody and then because they would say things
or because other people say it became normal and so those of us whether age even older or younger there's older people you
when I go wow I can't believe this guy said something he should know better but it doesn't matter
social media just became normal for you to express whatever you wanted so because of that
and by the way we see we see a ton I think a lot of people think guys like you talk about you and I are talking about younger people
some of the most insane stuff I see has nothing to do with younger people no I mean dead serious when I say that
and and they're the read like they're the example the older generation or the older people didn't they weren't the first ones on
so now they view it as this is normal but we're going good call wait no your generation you would never do that publicly in somebody's face
yeah think about this if you are of a certain age because I know it was in our age group so if you're above the age of 40 right now
probably the age of like 38 and above you were told never talk politics publicly wow you can't you can't say you weren't
right politics money and religion you did not talk about those things public by the way not at a family event I mean it was known
and then you see some 60 year old people and them talking about you go you weren't raised like but like you said it got normalized
I gotta give my two cents you know we have this joke on one of our group chats talking about gotta give my two cents hey this is
two cents so and so gotta give us two cents right gotta give her two cents got we have a joke about it and largely that's what ends up
happening actually is that you don't realize that you're not in on the joke and people look at it and go man he's a really nice guy
why why is the social media so weird like I don't think people realize that's what actually gets said by lots of people and I'm not
talking about like a judgment of somebody it's just thrown into ether into the ether of the world like yeah he kind of acts strange
on social and then you just go on about it's not like a 50 minute conversation or a 10 minute conversation it just becomes a part
of your ether of strange behavior and then companies pass on you you may have the greatest knowledge in the world but because of
social media and you and I can point to probably 1015 people that we know that companies have passed on doing business with that are
like yeah I don't know man companies it's not just I don't want people to think it's not just like manufacturers inside detail man
like I think there's actual companies passing on detailers doing business with them like the oil and gas company down the street
yeah for Oklahoma it's oil and gas but I mean you're exactly right you guys what class with all the sand huh
you guys think it's like us talking about us and detailing no no like we know actually like I know executives on the
strip that have called us and said hey we were working with this person so and so they act crazy on the internet can you come
bid a job like that happens all the time all the time when you get to a certain like level and people know to call you
you'd be like hey you know I thought so and so had this contract well said some problematic things on social media
and I'm like and I go search and I'm like what why I just like rub my eyes and go this isn't this guy like I've talked to
this guy what but like you said it's like it just becomes normalized and it's such a good word to use and all I want to tell
people is from today is guys if somebody lends you their lawnmower which is like asking a vendor like us for a favor
come through hey you asked for the favor I don't have an issue with the favor but then don't make me or someone else
not just us don't make somebody track you down you asked for the favor it's no big deal we all ask for favors at times
but knowing how to act in the moment is such a sign of professionalism you know I told you about you know project I had
going on at my house that a couple guys had to come out several times they got a pretty hefty tip for solving the issue
like hey man I really appreciate you taking time to fix this it's all good stuff happens they took all the time in the world to
explain it to me here man go grab a few lunches and dinners on me I know this has been a headache thanks for the honesty
and and when we come down to it every one of us has freedom of speech every one of us can say whatever we want on the social platforms
and publicly and privately and whatever you're going to be judged by it though that that you're not free from the judgment
and if you're good with it and you go dude I don't care people can think what they want they're not my customer
cool brother I that's the way you should look at it but you are going to lose opportunities because of those types of things
and as long as you're good with it and you never complain about being slow and you never complain about the hand you're dealt
that I think it's perfectly fine we don't seem to see that though we see a lot of complaining and all this brand and I should be working for that brand
and they should have done it's like dude you act crazy on the internet they're not they're not going to partner with you because you act crazy on the internet
and that's just a simple example there's a million other ones but I think that's the easiest one to point out
yeah and I think what most people are really itching to do is go to a hyper clean store grab that liquid elements polisher
you know you heard about it you wanted us to get finished so you could just go over there and grab it it really is something you need to check out
I definitely think Velo is going to dominate now with the combination everything that we put together
it was a great discussion Nick but everybody go over to hypercleanstore.com go check out the new polisher and new pads
alright guys we'll talk to you soon
About this episode
Exciting developments in the auto detailing world are unveiled, including the introduction of a new polisher from Liquid Elements and pads from Lake Country. The hosts discuss their decision to partner with established brands instead of private labeling, emphasizing quality and professionalism. They also delve into the importance of maintaining a professional image in the detailing industry, particularly regarding social media behavior and how it can impact business opportunities. The episode is packed with insights on product performance and the significance of professionalism in building a successful detailing career.
Original notes
In this conversation, Marshall and Nick discuss the launch of new detailing products, focusing on the strategic decisions behind not manufacturing their own machines and instead partnering with established brands.
They delve into the quality and performance of the new Liquid Elements polisher and Lake Country pads, emphasizing the importance of user experience and maintenance.
The discussion also touches on professionalism in the detailing industry, the impact of social media on reputation, and the significance of accountability in business relationships. The conversation concludes with a call to action for listeners to explore the new products available.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to New Product Launch
02:49 Strategic Partnerships in Tool Manufacturing
06:02 Quality Assessment of New Tools
08:59 Exploring Pad Options and Their Benefits
12:06 Understanding Pad Technology and Design
15:05 Choosing the Right Pad for Different Vehicles
18:10 User Experience and Pad Maintenance
21:03 Professionalism in the Detailing Industry
31:17 The Importance of Professionalism
32:41 Self-Analysis and Professionalism
33:39 Social Media Behavior and Professionalism
35:15 Consequences of Online Actions
38:02 Reciprocity in Professional Relationships
41:24 Building Trust and Opportunities
44:18 Navigating Public Perception
47:30 Understanding Repercussions
49:55 The Value of Professionalism in Business
51:32 Normalization of Unprofessional Behavior
Pints and Polishing Auto Detailing Podcast
Nick Walters and Marshall Hill
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59:36