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DO IT FOR A LIVING

DO IT FOR A LIVING is a podcast where YOU, the performance racing industry enthusiast and shop owner can hear from the best minds in the performance racing industry talking about business and tech. We discuss new products and services and the best resources used by the big dogs. You can listen on your way to work or in the shop. With new episodes coming out every week, you'll find interesting topics and valuable information you can use to build your performance business. Now take this information and use it to build the next record-breaking car, or the next innovative product.
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DO IT FOR A LIVING
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Mar 3, 2020

Stewart grew up in a Seattle suburb and was an active kid. When he turned 16, he got a beater $500 car and was tasked with keeping it running. He used this car to learn maintenance and slowly acquired mechanical skills. He went to college and continued to modify cars. He was living gin the dorm and didn’t have a place to do the work so he called several shops, but nobody would allow him to do the work at their shop. It was at this point that he shifted from wanting to be a surgeon to owning a DIY garage. He spent all winter break creating a business plan and researched other self-service garages to see if the idea was even feasible.

After dealing with a shady real estate broker, difficulties with city zoning, fire marshal fixes, and having to relocate with a 3-day notice, he was finally able to open his self-service garage. He has now been in business for 5 years and has signed another 5-year lease. The goal for this year is to expand and grow the business. He currently has 7 bays with lifts, provides tools and some specialty machines, and employees 4 employees to help around the shop. They keep things simple by charging a flat rate for time and not doing a la cart charges to use tools or ask questions.

Feb 17, 2020

Nathan grew up in Florida working on cars to help his dad’s business. In his twenties, he moved around always chasing entrepreneurial ventures but wasn’t always focused on cars. He eventually purchased a 2002 WRX Wagon and then he was hooked! The modifications began and he couldn’t get enough. This led to starting a performance shop with two buddies and eventually meeting Doug Wilks who was the owner of Top Speed Performance. Nathan then began organizing tuning appointments for Doug to fly in and tune several vehicles at once.

After some time, Nathan offered to buy the business from Doug and run it on how own terms. He kept the original employees, changed the name to Top Speed Motorsports, and grew the business over the next ten years. He recently changed it to Cicio Performance and now has two locations. One is in Atlanta, GA (the Top Speed Motorsports location) and the other is in Virginia Beach, VA. He has plans to open a third location in another year or two.

With the new name, Nathan focused his efforts on running the business efficiently and tracking every metric possible. This has allowed him to open the second location and he is able to split his time between the two and manage them. His goal is to ensure his customers have a pleasant experience and work to get the cars completed as quickly as possible. He still works on GTR’s but is expanding the services to 911’s and plans on doing a ton of work with the new C8 Corvette when it comes out.

Feb 10, 2020

Chris got his career going in cars by doing a buy-in for body kits while he was in college back in 2001. He ran this business all through college and made a decent living. But, after graduating, he became a medical salesman. He worked there up until 2012 when the company he was working for got bought and he was given a buyout payment. That same year, he started Speed by Design.

Initially, he wanted to do installs for GTR’s. He soon realized that Oklahoma wasn’t large enough to warrant a specialty shop like he wanted to make so he shifted gears and focused on manufacturing and e-commerce. He has continued to grow the business over the years and is proud to offer quality products manufactured in Taiwan. They have expanded from just GTR parts to Fords, AE86s, and are beginning to offer McLaren parts.

Feb 3, 2020

Its been about 4 years since we last talked to Andre and Ben of HP Academy. Originally, they were focusing on keeping the business small and running it themselves. They soon realized that they needed to hire some extra help. They have grown to 7 people and really helps generate content.

Andre and Ben now release interviews each week and have greatly expanded their online education program. The online courses include tuning, engine machining, race car wiring, and vehicle setup. They are currently working with Engineered to Slide to even create a set of fabrication courses so be on the lookout for even more great content!

If you’re interested, they are always looking for talented individuals to join their team. So, feel free to reach out to them if you think you are qualified.

Jan 27, 2020

Bryan Thompson started out in Utah and bought himself a Toyota MR2. He quickly started modifying it to go faster. He ended up going to college to get a Computer Science degree but was cut short because of his love for cars. He then followed a friend to Dallas to begin working at Dinosaur Performance (which later purchased Powerhouse Racing). Soon enough, he was giving the reigns to run Powerhouse Racing. Even though he preferred working on cars, he soon realized he could develop parts that he really needed to make. After a few years, Bryan was given the opportunity to buy Powerhouse Racing and jumped on it!

He has spent the past few years focusing on manufacturing products and expanding their offerings. He is putting systems in place to better handle the demand for their parts and try to get them out quicker while continuing to improve the products.

Jan 20, 2020

Back in 2017, AJ was humming along and making composite parts for race cars and street enthusiasts. He was approached by a customer who was wanting to help AJ scale the business, so he sold off 49% of the business. They changed the name to RHR Composites, hired 2 people, contracted some aerodynamic parts to be designed, and moved to a larger facility. Along the way, their vision for the future didn’t align so AJ had to buy out his partner to take back 100% of the company. Even though it was a huge struggle, AJ looks at the events as a learning experience and tries to keep a positive outlook on the situation. He shrunk the company back to just himself, changed the name back to AJ Hartman Aero, and the business is humming along nicely.

He has focused on reducing waste and improving efficiency within his shop. Even though he has moved out of the 6,000 sqft shop and back into the 2-car garage behind his house, he has been able to get more product out and make more money. This goes to show how important it is to focus on efficiency versus trying to make more money. AJ set his mind on improving the business and getting the most use out of his time. This has translated to higher profits with fewer resources.

Jan 14, 2020

Since he was a kid, Matt always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Using inspiration from his childhood, he decided to start a side gig to follow his dreams. His initial idea consisted of 50 latches that allow you to drop the Ford F-150 back seat down to access some secret storage. To his surprise, a Facebook post in a small F-150 group resulted in him selling out rather quickly. So, he began his journey to go at the business full-time.

His second product development was a bedside rack system for the F-150’s. This side hustle first took over a bedroom, then grew into the garage, and grew again into a storage unit that was run off a generator and a string of lights.

His biggest struggle has been dealing with knockoffs that originate from his success on Amazon. He even wrote a blog article warning other small business owners about the pitfalls and helping people learn from his experience.

 Fast forward to today and BuiltRight Industries is housed in a 5000 sqft warehouse and has 2 full time employees and a couple part timers. He has worked hard to expand the business to other vehicles and continues to develop new products. And he has even begun selling his products through Turn14.

Jan 6, 2020

Alejandro and Pablo Moreno didn’t start a shop together but found they could grow a business by working as a team. Alejandro got his engineering degree, worked at Bell Helicopter for a while, and went back to school to get his MBA. In the meantime, Pablo was an auto mechanic, went to flight school, and then decided to start Tandem Automotive with a friend to work on drift cars (hence the name).

When Alejandro finished grad school, he was looking for some sort of entrepreneurial venture and wanted to help Pablo. He crunched some numbers and made some changes at Tandem Automotive. His quickly discovered that something needed to change at the business if they wanted it to succeed. They looked at their current customer based and decided it was best to specialize in modifying and maintaining Toyota SUV’s and trucks.

Alejandro used his CAD skills and designed a custom wheel for their common application. While he thought it would be a great way to generate some extra profit, it turned out to be a real headache. Dealing with overseas manufacturing turned out to be extremely difficult and costly. But they overcame the hurdles and have had several hundred wheels produced.

Tandem Automotive has also undergone several ups and downs with employees. They have tried to balance the number of techs with the workload but have struggled to hire hard workers and keep them busy with work. They have put systems in place to track the time and verify that they are charging appropriately and making money.

Oct 14, 2019

The business was originally started by their parents who did maintenance and custom work in California. Theresa studied graphic design and worked as a machinist. She went back to work in the family auto body shop and worked in the front end. She taught herself how to pinstripe and paint and continues to do so to this day! Sara was also interested in working at some sort of automotive business and studied business and automotive classes. Strangely enough, she worked at a competitor’s auto body shop for a few months before realizing she wanted to start a business that sold aftermarket parts. She started the business from the family body shop before building a dedicated space in 1999.

These businesses operated separately until 2011 when they merged the two businesses. LGE-CTS Motorsports is a combination of the two original names. LGE stands for Louie & Gerry Enterprises and CTS stands for Custom Truck Shop. They now do a bunch of SEMA builds for Ford and Kia as well as custom builds for retail customers. During the slower season, they focus efforts on the repair side of the business. And they are currently working on expanding the online store to help generate revenue throughout the year.

They now work out of a 12,000 sqft building that they rent from their parents and employ 13 people. They are both very active with SEMA and other organizations to get people (and specifically, girls) active in the automotive industry and interested in making a career out of it. You can also find them at offroad and enthusiast events throughout the year. They keep themselves very busy and wouldn’t have it any other way!

Sep 3, 2019

On this episode we get a chance to talk with Vadim Belogorodsky from CANtrolls. CANtrolls is a company focused on using CAN interface hardware to make engine swaps easier… but it goes way beyond that! Vadim taught himself to program at age 13 and has since worked on medical devices, oil rigs (doing CAN-based Networking) and most recently with Zero Avia an electric aviation startup. Vadim is a standout in the automotive aftermarket for his ability to get things done. I know him personally to be an ambitious self-starter so I thought we could all learn what makes him tick, and maybe he’ll teach us some things along the way.

Aug 5, 2019

Reid has been very busy lately managing several businesses. He still has KSTuned which is the Honda racing side and then has Kaizen Speed for the domestic cars. But his new venture is a weatherproof. solid-state relay that can handle heavy current and is interconnectable. This makes it very easy to daisy chain additional relays without having to run more power wires. He also made it so that you can attach a CAN control module as an option. This gives the customer the ability to keep it very simple or more complex with the CAN module.

Reid has entered the relay into the 2019 SEMA Launch Pad Competition presented by the Young Executive Network. Reid needs your votes to move onto the finals. So, follow this link and go vote!

Voting link – http://bit.ly/VoteLunde 

Jul 22, 2019

Johnny joined the military after high school, served his time, and then used the GI Bill to go to college. He really didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life and began messing with cars and going autocrossing. He worked a short stent helping at a friend’s shop and then got a job at PFC Brakes doing sales and technical support. This job took him all over the world supporting various racing platforms.

His next job was at OG Racing selling safety gear and brakes. He was also making custom seat inserts for race teams. He began working with Elan (makers of the NP01) making seats and started looking at the extrusion they had for their wing. Eventually, they gave him one and he did some testing against a typical carbon wing. Turns out, the Elan profile added several MPH down the back straight and in turns at Road Atlanta. Right then, he knew he had something that works. He made a kit for the BMW M3’s and started making wings for all different vehicles.

Now he has 7 people and they help all sorts of teams with the aero needs. On top of creating wing kits, Nine Lives Racing can also do CFD analysis and provide information and parts to complete the aero package.

Mar 11, 2019

Jonny Mill grew up in a small town in California and moved to LA as soon as he graduated high school. He worked at a talent recruiter and had various jobs in the entertainment industry with advertising and marketing. He always enjoyed cars, but things really took off when he developed The E-Stopp (an electronic parking brake). It was intended for handicap vans but soon found an amazing niche in the automotive restoration market. He was approached by Bryan Harrison of SEMA to compete in the first SEMA Launch Pad competition and took first place. After that, he started an innovation company and then began doing marketing/advertising for various TV shows and networks.

He recently took a position at WheelWell.com where users can showcase their car builds. It has grown to an online hangout for car enthusiasts to share reviews, link to all the products used in their build, and even facilitate selling their vehicle. WheelWell’s latest push is their marketplace which allows users to purchase the parts they see on the user’s build. They have even introduced a “mod score” which rewards users for generating their own content and provides discounts in the marketplace.

To check out all the builds, or even add your own ride, check out WheelWell.com

Feb 11, 2019

Charlie Eklund moved down to Houston, TX to attend Tuner School in 2017. The people at Hennessey Performance saw something special in Charlie and offered him a job in the admissions department for the school. Since then, Charlie has been the face of Tuner School to narrow down the applicants and help them get jobs after graduation. To further help them out, Charlie helps students find part time jobs while taking classes and they even offer a house where the students can rent a room and not have to worry about furniture.

John Hennessey started Tuner School because he was getting multiple inquiries on how to work on cars and tune them. So, he just decided to meet that specific need and develop a curriculum with various industry experts. The classes are capped at 15 students to focus on providing the best education possible.

Feb 4, 2019

Richard Tomlin owns a paint, restoration, and fabrication shop south of Houston, Texas called Apex Auto Works. He made a name for his shop by building cages for Spec Miatas and was cranking out one a week. The shop is located on the way to a road course so he catered to the weekend racers and was able to do anything they wanted from complex fab work to paint and body. 

He recently embarked on a new venture by developing an absorbent powder called White Pony Dry. It is far superior to kitty litter at quickly soaking up spills so that you can clean up and get back to work. 

Sep 3, 2018

Bob grew up working on Fords by building engines and going drag racing. He got turned on to the Buick Grand National and became obsessed with going faster! After some frustration with trying to fine tune their setups, Bob decided to start diving into the actual electronic tuning. This opened a whole new world of going faster and picked up a bunch time at the drag strip.

He had a couple computer businesses and a shop but was always helping people tune. So, he decided to make it a real business in 2007. The demand for their services kept growing and they focused efforts on the teaching side. They offer online courses and in-person teaching. They also provide support to past students to make sure they can be successful in tuning whatever platform they choose. They currently rent a 5,000 sq ft facility in Florida and have 15 people on site and around the world. They specialize in teaching students how to use a particular tuning software and give their students experience in tuning a stock car, basic bolt ons, and forced induction. This gives the students real world experience on the platform they want to tune.

Be sure to check them out at car shows and trade shows as they look for helping more individuals and businesses learn to tune!

Aug 27, 2018

Dave grew up in Austin and has lived there his whole life. During middle school, he played in a punk rock band (look up The Snobs – Schools Out, Let’s Skate) in the early 2000’s. They organized a tour on the east coast and recorded a couple 7” records. While touring and playing shows, he got turned on to street racing. Having no affinity to school, he dropped out of High School and decided he wanted to play music and race rally cars. After some coaxing, he convinced his dad to “invest” in an Integra Type R rally car.

Eventually, Dave decided that this was his future and started instructing others on how to drive a rally car. There have been a lot of hiccups and various partners, but he has finally settled down and got things figured out. He now leases 140 acres outside of Austin and holds various types of classes. He has 1, 2, and 3-day classes, personal training, and group events. And there are various types of vehicles including FWD Hyundai’s, side-by-sides, Evo’s and STI’s, and even Ford Raptor events. Dave runs the place on his own but has about a dozen instructors who help when needed.

Aug 20, 2018

Dan lived in a house of car enthusiasts in southern California. Both his dad and grandfather owned their own businesses, so Dan was kind of groomed to have his own business as well. In high school, Dan bought a 1968 Mustang Fastback and spent 2 years restoring it with his dad. Once they finished it, Dan went out and took some “professional” pictures of the car, wrote an article, and sent it to every magazine he could find. He was able to get this car featured in some magazines and even on a few covers! Being a true entrepreneur and knowing what he wanted to do, he took classes in journalism and photography, so he could create better content.

Purely by chance, his neighbor ran a business that had several small niche magazines that included a couple car magazines. Dan took the job there during college and worked his way up the ladder to become the editor. He worked at several other publishing jobs in cars and tech. He started to see an opportunity with the new social media growth in the mid 2000’s. So, he pitched a large proposal to his boss to begin changing how they do marketing and focus on the new social side. Well, things didn’t go to plan, so he made the calculated risk to go out on his own and do it himself!   

Since 2008, Kahn Media has grown from his spare bedroom to a 7000 square foot office space and 20 plus people. They offer a full suite of marketing and PR and can cater the package to fit your needs and budget.

Jul 30, 2018

Joe grew up in Oregon and stayed there through college and went to Oregon Tech for Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Business. He never really saw himself owning his own business, so he spent several years working for other companies as an engineer. He spent all his extra time playing with and modifying offroad trucks. He soon realized that he could take a pretty good tax write off if he created a business to research, develop, and sell various parts he was making. In 2008, he made a simple web page and began making wheel centers to utilize the Hummer H1 wheels on other vehicles. 2 years later, he was shopping around for a tube bender and couldn’t find anything he could afford that he liked. So, he decided to make one himself!

He slowly transitioned out of a full-time job by moving to part time contracting. This allowed him to ramp up Rogue Fabrication while tapering down the time at his other job. He continued to do consulting part time until finally doing his manufacturing business full time. They continue to bring more operations in house and currently employ 6 people. Their product focus is for chassis fabrication tools that include the tube bender, notcher, dimple dies, drill press reduction kit, and a press brake for taco gussets.

Jul 23, 2018

Colin grew up buying and restoring pedal bikes and really enjoyed working with his hands. When his dad took a job in Washington with Boeing, Colin bought a 1940 Ford which was quite a step up from the bicycles. He went to college at Washington State University and preferred to look for car projects instead of studying. Having to haul dead cars all over the place, Colin began looking for better solutions to tie them to the trailer. In 1993, he made the business official and started to sell his products. In 1994, he met Tim Foss of Street Rodder Magazine and took a job working for them in advertising and sales. He spent 5 years there while still doing Mac’s Custom Tie Downs on the side.

In 2003, he moved the business from Washington to Idaho and was done for personal reasons not business benefits. His new facility is 17,000 sqft which houses all their manufacturing machines, assembly equipment, shipping supplies, inventory, and even Colin’s collection of project vehicles. He employs 16 people and have been steadily growing over the years. They make all sorts of products for securing your gear including the Versa-Track systems, ratchet straps, wheel tie downs, tow straps, wheel chalks, and many more!

Jul 16, 2018

Chris has been in California his whole life and used to have a job at a company that developed vehicle care products for professional body shops. This gave him intimate knowledge about materials and products for the car care market. One weekend, they were out an event demonstrating some car care products and caught Jay Leno’s eye. He invited them out to his garage to test out their products and shoot a demo video for JayLenosGarage.com. A few months later, Chris get a call that Jay’s detailer had moved and they were searching for a new person to clean the collection. Chris and his partner, Jeremey, jumped on the opportunity and began going out to Jay Leno’s Garage once a week to detail the cars.

After being at the shop and helping for a while, they decided to take the leap and pitch their cleaning products to Jay for branding. To their amazement, Jay was all for it and wanted to be an investor! So, they created a legitimate business for the car care products and Jay became the spokesperson for the brand. Jay became the president of the company and put up his own reputation and money to help make the business be successful. The guys are currently gearing up for their second SEMA show and are excited to keep growing the business!

Jul 9, 2018

Will grew up in California and has always had a passion for cars. After high school, he started an apprenticeship at a machine shop working on engines. He went to college, but it just wasn’t for him. He was much more interested in racing than he was in going to class. After a few years, he began working at Centerforce Clutches via a recommendation from a friend of a friend. He started as a machinist and worked his way up the ranks over many years. In the mid 90’s, Centerforce decided to move from California to Arizona to allow the business to grow without the cost burden associated with operating in California.

They now have around 30 employees and make clutches for all sorts of applications. They have re-entered the sport compact market as it continues to grow here in the US. They hold 9 different patents and continue to innovate and stay ahead of the curve. They strive to keep the OEM feel for the clutch pedal while increasing the holding capability and not sacrificing driveability and longevity. That is a complicated balance to achieve! They customized an old bread delivery van on a modern chassis with a diesel engine to carry around the large amounts of Centerforce candy that they make. It is a unique marketing goodie that helps bring potential customers to their display and remember their product.

Jul 2, 2018

Tony started his car passion by contributing and participating on the LS1.com forum back in 1998. He wasn’t happy with the support of that forum and decided that he could do it better. So, he started LS1Tech.com in 2001. All the while, he was working in the Oil & Gas industry. He continued to teach himself various software systems to allow him to create websites, design graphics, and model parts. He eventually sold LS1Tech.com and started DV8 Motoring to continue to sell parts via relationships he made with the forum.

His new venture is called 365 Driven and was created to help aspiring entrepreneurs and spread his wealth of knowledge. He shares a lot of content on a couple Facebook pages and just released his book called The Side Hustle Millionaire. He spent a whole year attending Toastmaster events to help him become a better public speaker. This has been extremely helpful in helping him clearly articulate information about his book and get his message across to current and potential clients.

Jun 18, 2018

Bret grew up in Jasper, IN and dabbled with cars during high school. After high school, he worked various jobs in Jasper and then took a job in Florida as a tech rep for the NHRA Drag Racing circuit. A few years later, he started working for a company in California to work for Blower Drive Service. He had been traveling about 300 days per year and decided to settle down back in Jasper with his new wife. He worked a tool truck and was building his own pro-street hot rod. He wanted to be able to adjust the ride height so he could drive the car to the track and then lower it to race. He took inspiration from semi-trucks with their air springs and sourced one small enough for his project. He built a few more of these systems for his buddies and incorporated Air Ride Technologies in 1996.

Within a couple years, things were really starting to take off. Bret’s wife was able to quit her normal job and come work with Air Ride Technologies and they quickly grew to 20 employees. The company continued to grown until the economic downturn in 2008. Through hard work and streamlined business practices, Bret was able to keep the company open and survive the tough times. He did have to lay off some employees but has been able to bounce back strong and now employs 60 people. They have made a big push in the last few years to engineer and build new products and bring them to the market. Now, they are working on marketing and demonstrating the products.

Jun 11, 2018

Steve has known he was going to work with cards since the first grade. His dad was an engineer and his mom was a pianist and they encouraged Steve and his siblings to pursue any passion they wanted. This even includes Steve attempting to build a submarine as a kid. He ended up getting drafted to the Vietnam War and worked as an electrical engineer supporting the airplanes. Once he got out, he went to college and got an engineering degree. While at school, he worked at a BMW repair shop. It was then that he started doing performance and aftermarket installs in his free time.

He quickly went out on his own and grew the company constantly over the years. Within 5 years, he had several employees and was manufacturing many parts specifically for BMW’s. He gained a reputation worldwide as the go-to engineer and tuner for BMW’s and even caught the attention of corporate. They came and visited his shop and Steve hoped they would begin sharing engineering data, but that wasn’t the case. But, they did allow him to sell his parts through the dealerships as long as he personally warrantied all of the work. He continued this relationship with corporate for many years and raced for them as well. At it’s peak, DINAN employed 70 people, did $1 million in revenue per month, and built 3,000 cars each year.

In 2015, he sold DINAN and went on to work for Chip Ganassi Racing to head the Ford GT racing division. He then started on his next venture, CarBahn. It is a service, repair, and modifications for high end vehicles that he plans to expand nationwide. He currently has two locations in northern California. He also has a racing division and a street car engine development division. He has invested a lot of his own money into the business to get it going and will be looking for private equity funds in the future to eventually open 100 locations across the country.

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