Product Reviews on Social Media How Does It Work? Plus, A Business Conversation. Episode #963
Pints and Polishing Auto Detailing Podcast
Product Reviews on Social Media How Does It Work? Plus, A Business Conversation. Episode #963
Pints and Polishing Auto Detailing Podcast · Jul 21, 2026
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Topic
Facebook groups
They’re talking about a Facebook group—an online community where people share posts and talk about a hobby. Here, it’s about car detailing discussions and how people engage with them.
Car
minivan
A minivan is a practical family car, usually with lots of room and easy entry for kids. Here it’s mentioned as a common “dad” purchase people don’t expect when they’re younger.
Term
tinter
A tinter is someone who installs window tint on cars. Tint can reduce glare and heat coming through the windows.
Term
pay taxes
Paying taxes means the money a business owes to the government. If you’re not expecting a big bill, it can surprise you and strain your budget.
Term
payroll
Payroll is the process of paying employees, including calculating wages and handling required deductions and filings. For small businesses, payroll is often one of the biggest ongoing cost and compliance items.
Term
VR
Here, “VR” sounds like a payroll service the business uses online. The point is that it replaces a lot of paperwork compared to how payroll was set up before.
Term
hyperclaim
“hyperclaim” sounds like an online service that helps with business admin. The speaker’s point is that it reduces the paperwork needed to run payroll.
Concept
hands-on
“Hands on” just means learning by doing it yourself, not just watching or reading. In car detailing, it means practicing the steps on real cars so you learn what works and what doesn’t.
Concept
disclosed
Here, “disclosed” means being open about conflicts of interest. If someone is connected to a company (like getting free products or working for them), they should say so instead of pretending they’re just sharing unbiased advice.
Term
free product
“Free product” means a company gives you products for free. If you’re posting about them, it can make your review less unbiased because you didn’t pay for the item.
Term
PPF company
A PPF company is the brand that makes the protective film. The key point here is whether they help when customers have problems with the film.
Term
warranty issue
A warranty issue means someone thinks the problem should be covered by the warranty. It’s basically a fight over whether the company will pay to fix or replace what went wrong.
Concept
hit piece
A hit piece is a post or video meant to seriously criticize and hurt a company’s image. Here, they’re debating whether it’s unfairly attacking or showing evidence of real problems.
Term
rock chips
Rock chips are little spots where small stones hit your car’s paint. PPF helps protect against that kind of damage.
Concept
viral
Viral means the video spreads really fast online. In this case, the host says it took almost no time before everyone in the community was talking about it.
Company
MetroVac
MetroVac is a company that makes cleaning tools used in car detailing. The host is saying they got the products from MetroVac and will mention it when they use them.
Concept
infomercial
An infomercial is basically a TV ad that looks like a show, usually with product demos. The host is saying some online “reviews” are really paid promotions.
Concept
sponsorship
Here, “sponsorship” means a company is paying a creator to talk about its products. That can make the review feel less independent, even if the creator still likes the product.
Person
Wesley
“Wesley” is mentioned as a person who talks about products online. The hosts like that he’s transparent about whether he’s paid or just sharing recommendations.
Person
Derek
“Derek” is a person the hosts mention positively. They’re saying his approach to sharing content/distribution is impressive compared with less honest promotions.
Brand
works auto centers
“Works auto centers” is a shop name mentioned as someone making helpful videos. The hosts are using it to show that some businesses share content in a straightforward way.
Concept
follow the money
They’re saying to look at who’s making money from a recommendation. If a creator sells products or gets paid, that can affect what they promote.
Brand
Hyper Clean
“Hyper clean” is the name of a detailing creator/channel. The hosts are saying you should pay attention to whether the creator is being paid to recommend products.
Concept
disclose that stuff
They’re talking about being honest with viewers. If someone is getting paid or has a deal tied to a product, they should say so.
LIVE
Welcome to the pints and polishing podcast. The most influential and listen to podcast in auto detailing. Welcome to the
community.
You know, Nick, you and I joke a lot internally about, you know, our younger cells and what what we wish we would have known or
something like that. I came across this Facebook group. We're gonna have an interesting discussion about Facebook groups and
quote unquote, this game of detailing. But I came across this and I just I had to start with it because I thought it was
hilarious. This guy said, cross my ultimate dad milestone this weekend. I bought a minivan.
He said my 17 year old self will be punching there knowing the 32 year old Alex bought a minivan and he's got pictures of him and
his kids. It is a nice looking minivan. Looks like one of those Kia rovers you talk about on clutch culture.
Things I didn't think I would have when I was younger, but I have now. I think we can all if we all wanted to play that little
game, we can all of us. I think most of us a past 30 would all go easy one, right? We didn't know we'd have so many muscle
pains. We didn't know we'd have so many. But what about things that you would have like, I mean, collections, things you
know, you've collected some things you've got a car that you didn't think you would have. I didn't think I would have this
BMW that I have.
Yeah, no, I think it's cool. We got a van. I mean, you can make vans super cool. You know, so you're not going to hear
any argument for me like you can make there. There's some some really bad ass vans out there. The guys do stuff too.
And so I'm kind of on board with it, like make it cool, make it your own. And then you'll see like, hey, I made I made it
cool.
I think I have less concern about what other people think about.
Oh, yeah, when you look when you're a teenager, and in your 20s, starts to dwindle in your 30s as you start to get to your
mid 30s, there's some people that are born to never think about what people think of them. But I think most of us look
yeah, you definitely think about that. But you cross some thresholds and age, you know, you're you think a lot in your
20s about it, and your 30s less and your 40s less. And we all have older people in our life. Maybe parents or grandparents,
boy, they don't care at all. So I think it's just something you grow out of.
Time. I think when I was younger, I thought I had more time. Oh, yeah, you're still young like, yeah, but time changes.
It's like a time used to be really slow, not times really, really fast. Like, it's almost like there's a squeeze on time.
I don't know. So for me, I would say, I didn't respect it enough. You know what I mean? Like that. That's the
learning lesson is how I respect time and that you don't have all the time in the world. And in a sense, you do have
all the time in the world. Like certain things are just going to take longer. You know, when you build a
business, you start to realize a decade's not that long, right?
Well, building a business, I don't think I thought I know I didn't think I'd have this business. I mean, I think
sure. Yeah, I mean, neither one of us would think we'd have this business, right? Thinking of business. I don't
think we thought of the levels, the amount of levels that we have in business. Right. I mean, I that's a wild one,
right? When you think of time, and then you think of levels. It's like the longer you go into it, the more
levels you see.
Yeah, no, it's there's no doubt. Like it's it's always an interesting thing because you don't love to look back and
look at all the time you wasted, you know, because that can get pretty depressing. And you're like, I should have
done this, I should have done that. And then when you get there, you always go, Well, this was always going to take
the amount of time that it took, right? Like, people kind of forget, you know, you're talking about YouTube
today. But YouTube is what 20 years old. I mean, that's 20 years for YouTube, where now you have premium
accounts, and they're showing movies on there. And, you know, that's not what it was 20 years ago. And that it was, it
was actually a pretty popular platform, you know, 1015 years ago to get where it's at now. It's like the just it
just took time and growth and all that kind of stuff. So I just I don't think I ever really recognized and I do try
to get it across to people who feel like they're struggling in business, or there are certain point in business, it's
like, Hey, man, your next level is just time. Like, it's just time in the game, time of doing it, time of being
making good decisions, piling on each other, making good decisions. And I just didn't respect any of that.
Because I didn't know, I guess you didn't, you don't know until you know.
Well, and I don't think I'm any younger, we definitely didn't have perspective, you know, that we have now. We
we didn't understand when we say there's there's a game of business. That's a big thing that we're going to talk about
today is the quote unquote game of business, right? I've got a different perspective on what I consider the game of
then what I thought of it 20 plus years ago, right? 2002, when I bought a power wash and started cleaning cars, my
perspective has definitely changed. We can all understand that, right? Like, think of the game of business. Nick, why? Why is it
called the game? First off, it there's rules. I definitely didn't understand the rules the first day I got into
business. There's written rules and unwritten rules.
Yeah, there's just a lot of things. When I started my business, compared to now is, you know, there's basics to business.
You know, there's just basics that never change, you know, marketing, sales, providing the good or the service, like
that stuff, that stuff hasn't changed for generations, right? Like, that's, that's just the fundamental rules of the
game. And we see in our industry, meaning PPF, 10 detailing, where everybody becomes addicted to, I'm
the best tinter, I'm the best PPF guy, I'm the best detailer. That's really a very minor part of the game. And the more
people get caught up on that, the more you see them get stagnant, right? Because again, what's your marketing
prowess? What's your sales financial knowhow? What is all that kind of stuff? And those basics are
really what it makes it a game, because those are those are just sort of written down rules of things you're going to have
to do to operate a business.
Yeah, written rules, like you said, like pay taxes, there's one.
Oh, buddy, that was you want to talk about a wake up call. There's a lot of people that, you know, have never had to
really pay a big tax bill in their business. I would say that is a very big wake up call. The first time that that
happens, you go, Oh, this is how it works.
And there's listeners that have reached out to us, right? So we know that there's people that have also had those
wake up calls. So they were also in that moment going,
like,
you know, payroll, you know, payroll is a big thing. You didn't realize, you know, I'm paying this guy 25 bucks an hour
cost me a lot more than that. You know, so you have all of these things that you learn. I think today, you
should probably learn because there's so much information out there. And it is like, there's just specific
people to talk directly about, Hey, go like think about setting up when I set up payroll a decade ago, I had to like
sign up with this company and this company, I had to do all this paperwork, I had to do all this stuff. My payroll
now through VR and, and, and, you know, hyperclaim, you just go on a website. And it's like they handle everything
just put I mean, it's that is light years different just in a decade. I mean, and you didn't have like 50 different
options. You know, it was like what ADP and like, you know, paychecks or some other company you had like 222
to five choices. Now you got like 500 of them and they're all software based and they kind of handle everything. It's
it's wow, man, that's stuff. That's just something you learn by going through it. But I think today, most of that
stuff, companies have solved the problem for you and you just plug into what they're doing.
So but there are written and unwritten rules that they can't solve right those become between the customer and the
detailer, you know, customer has a dirty car. Okay, detailer, you need to fulfill the service that they're asking
for, right? That gets into some of that tricky part, right? Like, what cars you do don't do, right?
There's the unwritten type rules, all written rule. Hey, my appointment's at nine o'clock. Hey, unwritten rule
detailer be there before nine o'clock. I love the written quote unquote, or unwritten where people expect or demand
tips. No tip is an unwritten rule that you did above and beyond what you were paid to do.
And it's a culture to tip culture is something that's developed in our career, where now it's seemingly out of
control, right at a lot of places. And so, you know, not ever expecting a tip is the best way to go about it. Make
sure your prices are where they need to be and take the tip as a as a benefit. And let me tell you if you're the
owner of the company and your team is doing the work, those tips need to go to the people that did the work.
Absolutely. Good call. Good call. We do know some people that put that in their pocket. And look, there's a lot of
businesses that have instituted, you know, I had an incident at a place I was a member where it came out that they
were putting this 18% service fee that everybody thought was going to the staff. That's why it was there. And when
that got out that that wasn't happening. We want to talk about having people very angry over something that never
should have been a topic of conversation. You want to put that on there? Just give it to the to the people providing
service is pretty easy.
One, we don't like to think about on a game, but there's always competition inside of a game. Yep. Right. We don't
like to think about that guy down the street. We'd rather laugh or joke about maybe he's this or that. We've had
people in competition fluff off that there's competition, right? Like, these guys don't matter. Hey, we don't do
interior, send it down to those guys, they're trash, right? Like, they're above competition. I said with
competitions kind of an interesting one when you think about detailing. I think there's that moment of losing to
competition. That's not fun. There's well, I know this guy that he said he could do it for 50 bucks less or said he
could do it for 100 whatever fill in the blank, right? You hate to lose to competitors. Yep. I would say I would
say I have a different view on competition. I think you need to be very worried if the customers continue to
contact you and think you're providing the same level of work as everyone else that means your marketing means
what you're doing. I had this conversation recently, which was interesting. I've never been in the
landscaping business. I've never run a landscaping business. But a guy that I know was doing building patios like
pretty, pretty elaborate, hardscape stuff. And he was talking pretty freely. He's like, Look, man, you know, it's
very tough. It's hard to get this, you know, and I go, Well, the guys you're talking about, do they do the same
thing as you? He's like, Well, it's not as high quality. I said, Well, what about this? Are they as fast as you?
He's like, Well, we're kind of the same time. I said, But you got to figure out something that's a differentiation
here. So if everybody's patio takes, you know, the size that you do is three week job, you need to find a way to
tell everybody ours is a week and a half. Right? So then that guy isn't doing the exact same thing as you. Yeah,
they're putting in hardscape, but you're solving the biggest homeowner problem of hardscape, which is I don't want
people at my house for three weeks. As a guy that's renovated multiple homes that I've lived in. Let me tell you a
selling point. How quickly are you going to be out of my hair? It's not because I don't like you, man. It's just
like having people in your backyard and your home doing flooring doing drywall, it sucks. Right. And so it's one of
those things I go, I do look at things as competition. But I also think if if it's, you're so directly related,
then you haven't thought through your business enough of what what is going to separate me. And just doing great
work is not the separator we all think it is. There is more to it. Can you deliver a car faster? Right? Can you
can you, you know, do you have loners at your shop? Do you whatever? I mean, something can separate you. So if you
think you're in direct competition with someone, you're probably a little too similar to that business.
You know, business is a game also because it's got great challenge in the unpredictability of what happens in
commerce and takes discipline in a strategy. You know, strategy there's part of it, but it's the discipline in the
strategy, right? Think of it this way, right? And have strategy hyper clean in itself has had strategy that has
changed very much. We've always held the discipline of quality. Right. I mean, the products that we've put out
have changed. They have. Yep. I think we change sizes, we change different parts, colors, you can shit, right?
Sure. But quality, we're going to keep the discipline of high quality.
Yeah, I think it is a I kind of go down to when you say the word like discipline and and staying the course.
One of the things I'll say is I had this habit. I know you and I had this habit when we first came together over,
you know, roughly six years ago is part of discipline has not changed chasing every idea you have. You and I've
talked about this a lot recently is that I get pitched a lot of ideas, you get pitched a lot of ideas, you know, we
may even pitch in some of our meetings, ideas to one another like, Hey, think about this idea. One of the things
about staying disciplined is, you know, if you're running a shop or you're running mobile, there aren't a whole
bunch of ideas you need to chase. Right. Most of the time this business comes down to this. Most companies don't
have enough business. So your idea is basic. How do I market? sell more people and do more work?
Every day you and I get pitched an idea and I'll say this, I don't get pitched a lot of bad ideas anymore, where I
just go, That's a terrible idea. But I do tell people that's a great idea. Who's going to do the work? And that's
part of discipline, right? Like constantly being an idea person is very addictive. Right? Because you're just
like, Oh, I got this great idea, idea. And ideas worth about 1% of the whole
deal. The other 99% is the work, the money, the investment, the take the whole thing, right? Who's going to stick
with it? How long are you going to stick with it? So that's the big part of discipline that we see, especially with
small business people is like, there's always a good idea out there. You may have them, they make, you know, somebody
may give them to you and you go, But yeah, I got to be disciplined enough to know who's going to put the hours in, who's
going to put the money in, who's going to put more hours in and more money and more hours. And I think that's a big
part of discipline.
You're right. The discipline of being consistent and staying something forever, right? You, you go into many games,
there's all kind of mini games inside of business. It's particularly when you were just talking about his marketing,
right? And they always say that you got to have discipline marking, but then you also have to go see the what's
what's happening out in, in, you know, in the quote unquote market and then be able to be like a fly fisherman that
can change a fly and put on a different one. And that's not bite. Okay, let me put on that. Now this is Biden,
and he's going to catch up with discipline, right, is to pay attention. What's working? You and I've talked about
this. I mean, one of the craziest things I've seen, you know, since I've been a part of hyper clean is you and I will
talk about people that, you know, we loosely know or whatever, and they're not even in our orbit at hyper clean.
And be like, man, that guy has posted on social media every day for six years. There's no traction. So part of
disciplines also being able to go, Hey, what I'm doing is not working. I tried something. Let me try something
different. That doesn't mean you go to a whole new idea. Because you're still posting content. It's not go chase
something else. It's having the discipline to say, Hey, this isn't working. Let me rotate 90 degrees and do it this
way. And, Hey, that worked a little bit. Let me add this, like that's part of all of it. But you and I've seen
people that have the discipline to post on social media. And then just don't even pay attention and have the
discipline to ask is it working? Like there's a lot of that. And I gotta tell you, man, it's it's really, really
hard to stay focused always chasing a rabbit somewhere else.
Go into that game tape, right? Like we talked about. Oh, yeah, really tough to go back and watch game tape,
especially, especially when you're the subject. You know, and it's like, well, you kind of screwed up a lot in
that game. Like that's a tough video. That's a tough video with the team. And everybody's like staring at you
and they keep replying all your screw ups because you had 100 of them in the game. Like, yeah, man, it sucks.
But that's that's that's your business in a nutshell. Like you are going to have to take it on the chin, so
to speak, and be like, you're the one that's always going to be ridiculed because it's yours.
There's an evolution of the game inside of marketing that like we can have a joke, you know, what used to be six
cents. Now it's 583. Now it's 100, right? Whatever it is to cost to get that interaction. There, there and
lies this massive mini game where I know I didn't used to think about it, but it slaps you in the face. I
sort of like we talked about earlier is how expensive and it has been something you've always tried to say to
people is guys, this is a pay to play game. Right? That's the part of the game that we've got to understand. It
might have been really easy to get in. But the upgrades and all the different pads or the different things you
might need a different type of ball. Hey, I like this glove better. All the different stuff that goes into
playing the game. It's going to have a greater cost and the higher you go in the game. Those expenses
get higher, right? Whether they're mistakes that you made, and that's a cost, whether that's equipment
that you need to buy that that's a cost, whether that's going and getting and trying to get on the
local Google ad word up at the top for auto detailing near me. Right? I mean, if people are
searching auto detailing near me, then hey, how much am I going to spend and pay in order for me to
play? Yeah, I mean, it's one of the I think one of the worst pieces of pieces of advice I watched for
a decade now is these people telling you, turn your phone around, you'll be successful. Make
good content. Make good content. Nobody's ever told you what good content is. If you ever notice,
nobody actually tells you what good content is you and I were joking about this on something
else a few days ago. They also don't magically tell you how much they spend on ads. They magically
don't tell you they have three staff members sitting right next to them. One's going to video one's
going to edit one's going to be watching the internet to help it go viral with titles and,
you know, on this platform, edit it this way and go back and you're looking at at this guy saying
turn the phone around. But in his world, he's spending $100,000 a month on Facebook and TikTok
ads, while having $300,000 in salaries behind the camera that he never told you about. Now,
that doesn't mean that's where you have to start. But that's that's that's how this works.
Right? Like all of these people that you go, man, this business guy always goes, you know,
I see him everywhere. Yeah, there's probably like five staff members making sure you see him go
everywhere. It's not like he's stopping his business to edit the video and post the video on
10 different platforms. And so I think I don't think it's ever been fair to mislead people. And
I think that's a lot of what this has been. And social media is awesome. Like you can be found
on social media, you can expand your business on social media. You also get a huge benefit by
understanding the playing field that you're playing on and how it works. Because you don't
want to be the one that got played. Well, I always like it like this. Your buddies tell you to come
play pickup hoops. And you come in football cleats and football pads. You're not going to have a
great day playing pickup hoops. Okay, you want to play the game that's the game, you
don't want to show up in football pads on the basketball floor, right? Like, and that's where
I think a lot of people have been, you know, fairly or unfairly, they've been led to believe
something that isn't isn't happening. Like this is a lot of work. Social media is work. It's not
that it's a bad idea or a good idea. It's an idea. You got to take that idea and you got to put effort,
discipline, money, time, all that stuff goes into it. I just think it's been framed improperly.
And I think it's confused a lot of people. Very much. And especially because we'll go into a Facebook
group, which has been so great that Zuck created this awesome social media place. And, you know,
you can go in and play and you can get played at the same time, right? Like social media groups,
we have one, it took us a while to create one, because of so much that goes on in them, right?
And that's that's part of the game that we don't understand. So many of us don't go into groups
and we don't know if we're the ones playing, or we're being played, or what's really going on.
And I think that's a confusing part, I guess, for me with people and social media groups, right?
I, and we can just get into it, right? Because this, this is a guy, and this is in,
in one of these random groups, I don't remember one, and he goes, I need some advice. He goes,
what is good detailing program that I can take that will help me go from beginner to advanced?
I seems like a legit question, right? If, if you go somebody that's just getting started,
he's going into a place that he feels, I don't even remember which name of the group, right?
But it's going to have a detail or something and it's going to seem like, hey, man, here is a place
you can come and ask a question. It's a really great question. What's a good detailing program?
Well, let's just look at the answers, though, right? Nothing does it better than just putting
the time in a good program. I don't know. I mean, that's the longest route for sure.
That'll be the longest route. It's a route, but it'll be long. It'll be a long one.
Here's another guy goes YouTube and experience trial and error.
There's plenty. I would say that's 2026 is answer right there.
Well, you could even say, since you were talking about YouTube's 10 years old,
yeah, or 20 years old, you can say definitely the past 10 years.
That has really grown to where I say, oh, you would take a percentage of our listeners
that have said they go and search and learn things off YouTube. I think we would. I know
I would be surprised there was a poll on that and that number. Oh, I would say if somebody
started in the last five to seven years, most of those people would have started based off of
watching stuff on YouTube. I would say that'd be in the 80 to 90 percent would be my guess,
if not 100 percent. Well, the very next comment is stay off YouTube.
There's a lot of validity to that. There's a lot of validity.
Find someone local with real experience as a mentor to learn from hands on, you know,
we used to call that a job. Get paid to learn the skill that you want to learn. Right. So here's
a guy going in. You can see he's trying. And is this a good place for him to get. I mean,
you've got so, so many different right. And so what is the game here? What is the game? We never
really fully understand because in some of these groups, you got somewhere that one that really
got popular. What 2015 to 2020 was run by a brand. It was run. It was secretly run by a brand. They
weren't really forthcoming a lot of and I got invited to a group, a detailing related group,
I think within the last, let's just say inside 2026 sometime. And it seemed like they were
going to do cool stuff. I was like, Oh, this will be cool. Like this seems like they're doing,
I'm kind of good with different, you know, you're going to do something different here.
Then I noticed the guy, the administrator that invited me to the group was not employed by a
company, but every post he showed of him working on a car, it would be holding something from this
very specific company. And I didn't think much of it for a while, to be honest with you.
Now it's to the point where I go, Oh, you haven't disclosed, you're somehow involved,
whether they're throwing you free product to do this old model where this, you know,
certain group had a company started and all the admins turned out to they work for the company
when you dug into it. Yeah, there's the greatest thing about our group is it's called hyper clean
specialist. It's a hyper clean group and we run it. I mean, there's really nothing there's
there's no hidden agenda. Like it's it's there to and we actually delete posts where
competitors could be bashed or, you know, things like that, we don't think it's the
right thing to do. So I don't like the underhandedness of some of this. I mean, let's say it out loud,
like it has some of these groups have been underhanded that have gained popularity.
You know, I know there's groups out there that have detailing and you look at the admin and
it's like a marketing guy and a web guy and then a brand guy and you go, Well,
what's going on here? Right? So I think you have to be aware of that stuff.
You do because you got to understand, right? This is where we talk about the game, right?
Marketing is attention. And the more attention and the more eyeballs you can get. Well,
that's what you that's what a marketers designed to do. And here's these groups. And and you're
right. You don't see the disclosure. And there's the underhanded part of it. When we think of
like good sportsmanship, right? Like you think of people you played or people you watched for
everybody except Nick that watched the World Cup. You know, you saw some people that would
shake hands after the game. You saw some people that would just walk away and they were so frustrated.
They weren't going to, you know, the sportsmanship with the way people play and or can, you know,
like you say, like actually admit to things. There's a group that that I kind of enjoy. There's
a guy and I'm not going to mention his name. He's he's always very thorough to go and tell people
right and wrong and then list out this I know exactly the guy's name and you didn't share
with me. I know exactly who it is. And and he just put a video recently inside of this group.
He was going over this cleaner and then somebody on you know, the comments go, hey,
I thought this was an educational community page, not a and then fill in the the brand
hit piece page. And and you go, Oh, I didn't know. I got but this guy this guy got it because he
eventually watched enough and and seen enough and got kind of so so he gets called out for it.
And you go, Oh, OK, well, there's a different part of the game than many of us might have
really understood, right? Like the same guy that makes those videos makes them about other
content people and their people. And then he's talking about, well, now I can do in this group
or can't do right. The it's almost like one of those shell games, too. And the internet is
from YouTube to TikTok to Facebook groups. There's there's little games being played. Now,
you know, we have a belief that I have no problem sharing with everybody. I think in the end,
authenticity wins. You know, I do think it wins. I think you can see that from a lot of different
brands throughout history is like, you know, you don't need to do all this. But there's a lot of
people that that are watching things on the internet, not really understanding why they're
there, how they got there. And, you know, what could be causing them to be there? Because it
might not just be this guy wanted to make a video, there could be a lot more to it.
Yeah, we never really understand a lot of times, do we? You know, like,
we we see what's in the background or we hear the way somebody talks and they sound really great.
And so we, I think there's plenty of people naturally. I know there's things that I did
when I was younger that I, you know, I go, wow, I just listened to this guy just because he sounded
good. Yeah, same same for me. Like it's and by the way, can catch yourself still doing that today?
I mean, it's it's an easy thing. Right? Everybody's human. We're all susceptible. Like, you know,
you're like, Oh, man, I like how this person talks or I like the visual or I like that. And
you're just like sucked in and you don't even know what the hell's going on.
That suck in is part of the game, right? As we said, marketing gets is about getting eyes. So
what's developed out of social media, YouTube and all this is this,
this other part of it called the content game, right? Like people, you know, whether it's,
we've had discussion about, you know, hey, you just got to put out stuff, right? Okay.
That is content. But inside of content, a lot of times people are actually, there's some stuff
going on. Why don't you explain to us, you know, there's a developing story
where a shop owner, I forget where he's at located, that's irrelevant to the story.
He makes this, you know, pretty critical video about a PPF company, you know, the biggest dog
on the block, basically, or one of the two biggest dogs on the block, and he goes, and he provides
receipts. Here's what happened. I put this on customer's cars. I had a warranty issue. Here's
the text that I sent. So was it a hit piece? In a way, the difference is he seemed to have a lot
of receipts and go, Hey, let me show you this, let me show you that they wouldn't stand behind this,
they wouldn't tell me this. Then he says, you know, just so you guys are aware, they're importing
them from three or four different places around the world. So you don't even know what and he
starts to, you know, show records and go, you know, just so you know, and he starts blowing up their
spot in fairness, not really lying about anything. Right, which is, you know,
a lot of the text I got, for people that love or don't like that brand, it doesn't matter to me,
I'm not, I'm not, I've put it on cars. I wasn't thoroughly impressed. I don't think it was the
best for my customers. But I had some very expensive cars where the person said, This is
what you're going to put on. And I worked with that company and there was no problem. Like,
I don't have a bad thing to say. I don't love the film. I think it looks pretty bad on cars,
but it's it's PPF, right? It's going to protect from rock chips. It's going to do its job. It's
not a bad company or but this guy seemingly goes on this two to three minute rant with a bunch of
receipts and goes, you know, this isn't a good company. Now, that stirs everyone up. The loyal
you see that this is some of the stuff why we say we don't want it in our groups.
Yes, because you then see that's just what it's like. They're just stirring this hornets. Yeah.
So the hornets nets good words to use hornets nest starts going people that have it in their
shop are going to defend it people that have been burned or don't like the brand they're going to
go off in the comment section. And so this gets in our world viral amongst people that know what
they're talking about or around the business, right? So it makes its rounds. Shit, it didn't even
take two hours, you know, after it was posted, it was everywhere. Everybody's talking about it.
It calms down. And then all of a sudden, which I'm guessing took about five minutes of investigation
by this huge company that has the people to do the investigation, it comes out that
this guy is selling packages for good reviews reviews. So you send them
some company would send them a product, and he'd have a good, better, best package of like,
I'll promote your product, I'll tell everybody it's great, I'll do.
And so people out him about that. Now, I don't think that actually diminished his original
his original video because he had the receipts. I mean, when somebody has the receipts, I just go,
those are the receipts. I don't really care what words you use. Like those are receipts. Maybe
he used too strong a language, but I'm a I'm a big, I'm a big guy. You know, I'm an adult. I
understand people use language people don't like. But they feel like they've outed them and said,
you know, look, he probably just wasn't paid by that company. And so he bashed that company.
But this shows the underworld. And it's been fun to see my my brethren in the PPF business
just realized that this start this is happening because all of us that deal with the consumer
or in the consumer direct to consumer world, you know, not only direct to businesses,
for a lot of you out there, but the guy that just likes to clean his cars in the driveway and
detail his own stuff. This has been going on in the detailing chemical business for a decade,
if not longer. And a lot of you probably don't know that a lot of you probably do. So, you know,
when people ask, why aren't we on certain YouTube channels? And why aren't we these places? We've
been approached. And I can tell everybody the approach. And Marshall will remember this story
more than anybody. The first time we got approached. It was so shocking. When we got off the phone,
we didn't say anything to each other on the phone for like two minutes. It was just like a lot of
me and you stumbling on our words like what I mean, let me tell you what was weird about it.
Guys sells tries to sell us a package right of videos. I'll make three videos and this will
happen. And that'll happen. And none of it verifiable, by the way, that was the first red flag
because all we said is, well, great, send us the data and we'll take a look at it. We run a business.
If this is if this marketing is going on, we're in, you're getting all this and companies are
selling stuff and, you know, we're a business. And then we go, it was right about the time that
we launched Fuego. And the benefit of Fuego was that it didn't stink like everyone else's.
And I remember either you or I said this ago, well, so do you want to talk about the products
we may send you if we agree to this? His exact words were, I don't care about the products.
It was the most shocking to this day, probably the most shocking conversation you and I have
been on together where everything became crystal clear. You didn't know it was becoming crystal
clear while this guy was talking, but you go, Oh, and then you get off the phone and you get
through all this stuff and you go, Okay, man, there's a lot of people doing this. That's so
you and I weren't mad about it. I want to make that clear. This wasn't like, you know, we felt
disrespected or we were angry. It was just a lot of shock and quiet. Basically, it was like,
so wait a minute. And we did say this guy several times. So you provide reviews, but you want to
know nothing about the products. I mean, that probably was said like five times before we got
the phone. Yeah, he just said, doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. What I'll do is I'll do these
videos and you know, I know everything I need to know about products I don't need to know about
yours. And it just got stranger and stranger until we got the phone and we've been approached after
that. There's always people that reach out and say, Hey, I want to do this. Here's what I charge.
Here's what I do. And so when this PPF thing launched off and everybody got so upset, I did
get a couple questions why people are like, Why do you seem like unbothered by all this?
Like, why aren't you like, engaging in the text messages or the phone call and I go,
I just assumed this was happening. Like, I don't know what you want me to tell you,
but I don't know that person. So I have, but when I watch review channels of any kind, PPF,
tint, detailing chemicals, kitchen knives, pots and pans, tires, oil, name it, name whatever
review channel that exists in any part of the world, I assume somebody's being paid to say good
stuff. It's like in marketing, there's a term for it, right? Like not inconspicuous. What's it
called? Like, just like the bottle's just sitting there, right? Remember when we talked about, Hey,
take this photo where the bottle just looks like it's there. Yeah, inconspicuous, like it's just
part of it, right? Something like part of it. Here's, here's the way I do things. And this is
just a natural flow for me. And I'm so successful, right? You can, you can put it into another term,
right? Like, you can think of any athlete that post game is drinking something. You can see
different UFC fighters, some of them, even when they're, they lost and it sucks that even though
they lost, they have to go grab that camp. I always think about NASCAR drivers. It's like,
they're the biggest billboards on the planet. Like, I got to thank my sponsors and they just
rattle off like 400 of them. And you go, that's the game, right? The game. And so I think what's
been lost and I talked to a few people about this and everybody's going to say it their own way is,
I think when, when you watch television, and you're watching the game, and the game goes to
commercial, you're very aware it's a commercial. I think people are still caught off guard that
the TV commercial is just now on your social media platform. And it may not be professionally edited
and it may not be professional actors and it may not be professional anything. It's just a guy in
his shop being paid to say certain things. The reason I don't get mad about it is because I know
how the game works. I assume people have to make a living. If you watch hyper clean content,
I'll let you in on a little secret. We hope that makes you want to buy hyper clean products.
I've said it a million times on this podcast. It's not, we're not, I'm not trying to tell you
anything different. But a lot of this stuff, I do understand why people feel it's underhanded
because it is. It is underhanded in a way because there's a lot of this that has gone on where
people don't say I'm being paid a sponsorship to do these videos. Now, of course, like the race car
driver hasn't plastered everywhere. You know, I want to thank everybody. You know, these guys are
just yeah, you know, Michael Jordan is going to be pro Nike, right? Like he's been paid a lot of
money will continue to be paid a lot of money. Tiger Woods will be paid a lot of money, right?
Like whatever he's repping, we've all heard about the sponsorship deals. I think
the consumer of any good, I think it's really a mistake to call this a detailing or a PPF or
anything. I see a guy reviewing tools. I believe him 50%. It's not because he's not a good guy.
I'm sure he reviews tools. Well, but you know, I'll share a great company we work with American
built, you know, MetroVac. When I use MetroVac on camera, I'll tell anybody they sent me this stuff.
Like I'm going to still and guess what they were told on the phone call. If I don't like it,
people are going to be told I don't like it. And they chose to send it anyway. But it was important
for me to say to the guy who was an awesome guy, I said, Hey, man, I just want you to know if you
send me stuff, I don't like it. I'm going to tell people I don't like it. You good with that? He's
like, Yeah, that won't you won't have that experience. And I appreciated that. Right. But
I'm not earning a living on somebody paying me to make content. And many people are. I think a lot
of people don't understand the money that's exchanging hands. We've had famously in detailing
in the chemical space, we've had people outed as lying to their audience when they had 500,000,
700,000, a million subscribers of, you know, being outright just paid, we may have been
approached at times for that type of thing. I would say this. I just think awareness makes
you less bitter about it. You just you just learn to skip over that stuff and not be a part of it
and not let it be a part of your ecosystem. And and or if you do watch it, you watch it through
the proper lens where you go, I don't really know the rule here. What's this guy really doing?
Is he really doing reviews is being paid for reviews? And I think I err on the side now just
assume everybody's being paid to review a product. Like, it's an infomercial. You and I used to say,
you know, a guy that did the flexial commercials, I just assumed he was being paid to do the flexial
commercials, like, or to do the ginsu knife or all those infomercials that ran in our lifetime.
But I do think there's a lot of people and I can tell you this in the PPF world.
People were shocked that this guy might be selling sponsorship, you know, review packages.
In the detailing world, we've been hearing about this for a long time. And still some people don't
get they go, I really like this guy's YouTube video. And you go, boy, if you only know, right?
Like if you only knew. And again, that doesn't mean you can't like his channel. But you also
don't realize he's made tons of money off peddling you products that he doesn't believe in. He's
hardly ever used. And it's just a package to run a commercial. Yeah, there is definitely the 2026,
you know, biggest eye opening for understanding, quote unquote, the game, right, making sure you
don't get played. Always keeping your eye out for those guys, we can appreciate somebody you've
talked about, I've talked about, we can appreciate Wesley and some other guys that go into groups.
And they'll say to people, hey, listen, I'm not paid by hyperclaimed, I just recommend it. Right.
Like, people that do videos, we would love it that they do it. And they show it. If you're
somebody that that that kind of is on that fence with that, of course, here, I think the answer for
you is to become a distributor. Yeah, you know, that's what's great about Derek. And it was great
about some other distributors that put content out. And let's see the works auto centers awesome
to see what stuff he puts out. We've got other I mean, they put out some really great videos,
information, discussion, you know, they get to do it the way they want their distributors.
It's an outright yeah, I'm making money at this. Yep. Very, very impressive. I love it that we see
that. Yeah. And I think it's, you know, the content thing today is very easy to understand, man.
You do have to be the kind of people that go, I'm going to follow the money.
You know, like, it's a pretty way to pretty decent way to go through life. You don't have to be
cynical about it. You don't have to be a jerk about it. Like some people are you just go,
Hey, man, if I'm watching hyper clean YouTube channel, they're going to talk about hyper clean.
It's like, it's not rocket science. But there are these creators, these shop owners, these
detailers, these mobile guys, whatever, that are not being forthright about the things they're
getting on the back end. And I understand why everybody doesn't feel like that's honest,
because let's be fair, it's not honest. You should disclose that stuff, but they're not going to do
it. So you just got to operate as though I don't know really what the motive is here.
All right, great episode. Everybody remember the juice is loose hyper clean store.com. Get over
there. We'll see you guys.
About this episode
Hosts break down how social-media product reviews and detailing communities work—starting with Facebook groups, then moving into the “content game,” pay-to-play dynamics, and why engagement and ad spend are often hidden. They connect it to real business fundamentals: time, execution, payroll/taxes, and the written vs unwritten rules between customer and detailer. The conversation also covers tipping/service-fee confusion, differentiation beyond “great work,” and how to evaluate reviews by following the money and demanding disclosure.
Original notes
Discover how social media, marketing, and competition shape the real game of business — often with unseen strategies and hidden costs.
Entrepreneurs and detailers alike will gain insight into recognizing the underlying rules, how to avoid being played, and the importance of discipline and authenticity in growing a successful brand.
Timestamps
00:00 - The quote-unquote game of business and internal reflections
00:27 - Changing perspectives on life milestones and collection habits
01:12 - Making vans cool and letting go of judgment
01:37 - The diminishing concern of what others think
02:14 - Time perception shifts from youth to maturity
02:39 - Respect for time and realizing business growth takes decades
02:54 - Surprising levels and phases in business development
03:17 - The importance of respecting time and recognizing wasted effort
03:45 - The evolution of platforms like YouTube and growth over years
04:16 - The power of patience and understanding the role of time in success
04:28 - The game rules: understanding the fundamentals of business
05:16 - Recognizing the difference between basic rules and niche skills
05:48 - Common misconceptions in the detailing industry and beyond
06:23 - Paying taxes and the wake-up calls for business owners
06:47 - Payroll complexities and evolving solutions
07:21 - The platforms making payroll and other processes easier
08:12 - Customer expectations, unwritten rules, and tipping culture
08:52 - How service fees and tips are sometimes misappropriated
09:49 - Competition inside the game: overcoming negative perceptions
10:42 - Differentiation through speed and unique offerings
12:54 - The discipline of quality and strategic consistency
14:11 - The trap of chasing every new idea instead of sticking to proven strategies
15:24 - The importance of focused effort and how social media content is part of the game
16:39 - Recognizing when marketing efforts are or aren't working
17:24 - The challenge of honesty and self-awareness in online content
18:21 - The cost structure of marketing and how expenses increase with growth
19:17 - The reality behind sponsored content and paid reviews
20:42 - How many influencers and creators are effectively paid to promote products
21:24 - The importance of transparency and authenticity to avoid being played
22:20 - Navigating social media groups and understanding the influence of underlying agendas
23:16 - The long journey of experiential learning over quick fixes
24:23 - The rise of YouTube as a learning platform over the past 20 years
25:07 - Finding mentorship in the real world versus online
26:10 - Underhanded tactics in online groups and hidden agendas
27:25 - The importance of sportsmanship and transparency in the game
28:50 - The influence of undisclosed sponsorships and product placements
30:24 - The "content game" and recognizing subtle promotions
31:47 - Showcasing receipts and the importance of transparency in reviews
33:24 - Exposing paid review packages and the underworld of marketing tactics
35:07 - The evolution of sponsorship deals and product endorsements
36:24 - Navigating the complex world of paid content and sponsorship disclosures
37:48 - How to spot behind-the-scenes deals that influence consumer perception
39:09 - Comparing marketing in sports and advertising — the game of endorsement
40:37 - The reality of social media marketing costs and paid promotions
43:03 - The importance of awareness and discerning genuine content from paid promotions
Pints and Polishing Auto Detailing Podcast
Nick Walters and Marshall Hill
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46:00