What if I told you that the detailing business that you're grinding away in right now isn't the one you actually want?

People get really confused with this and they think that sales is only about just focusing on new leads and who's ready to buy right now.

Now, who keeps you honest about your business goals?

We have to track.

So putting those systems in place to help you track performance will be one of the biggest game changers for you when you sit down and take the time to actually do it.

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Detailing Growth also helps businesses with consulting and business coaching and systems implementation.

Head over to detailinggrowth.com and sign up for a free strategy session.

What's up guys?

It's Gabe from Detailing Growth.

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Talking Pain podcast.

Welcome back to 2025 and today I want to take you on a few different side quests to discover what your dream shop and dream opportunity really could look like.

The first question I want to ask you is when did you realize you were building somebody else's version of success?

Because if that's the reason that you're building your business, you're just going to set yourself up for failure and it's going to be failure time and time again.

Because if you think back, what made you start detailing in the first place, it certainly wasn't because of somebody else's expectation for your business.

It was because for whatever reason, that's what you wanted.

What did your day look like then?

What does your day look like now?

And when, when and where do you feel most drained in your business?

And I'm willing to bet that you can pinpoint one thing or another that really bothers you and really gets under your skin that you personally can't stand.

And the longer you let that stay inside of the business, and the longer you let that lead you, the deeper into burnout you will go.

And burnout is a very real thing from work.

I don't care what anybody says to you.

I don't care about burnout being a mindset.

I don't care what any of the, you know, gurus out there have to say.

Even some of my own mentors have said that burnout isn't real.

And I Don't believe them.

The burnout is what you get from, while you're trying so hard to chase your own ideal business outcome would be.

And sometimes that's, That's a really long, hard road.

And burnout is real and you will get it, and everybody does at some point.

I think if you came to me and said, you know, I'm not burnout on my business at all, I'm willing to bet that you have been at some point.

And I think it's important to.

To reflect upon that, because being honest with ourselves is a big, big point of just understanding when and when and where we want to go.

And I'll share you on mine.

So a lot of you know that.

You know, my boy Justin helped build my shop up to where it was.

I'll always be grateful for that, truly.

But it, it paints a really solid picture of what can happen when you put a lot of your time and energy and invested in one person instead of the business as a system.

You can suffer.

So January of 2024, he came into my office after New Year's and said, hey, in six months, I'm leaving.

Dustin had a pretty big sarcastic side to him and joke side.

So, like, he would, he would come in and just troll around all the time.

Justin also knew I was very connected individual and I cared a lot.

Ultimately, it was his real deal.

And he said, look, man, I told you, I had like two and a half, three years, and then I was heading to warmer climates.

And I was like, yeah, you did.

During that time, the six months where he was preparing to leave, I had backed away from the business in very, very specific ways because I was.

I was burnt out on, on giving so much of myself to the business.

And I.

I was totally okay with Justin going where he needed to go.

What I was burnt out on was having to reinvest my time in building other people because I didn't quite have that system dialed in just yet.

I created a ton of distance between me and the business, and I just.

I had to do that for myself and I had to experience it.

And ultimately I.

When I look back on it, I compared when I first got into the new shop to where it was at now.

I will.

I don't know if I'll ever push for the.

The level of growth I was looking for previously, because there are other things that I want to do now.

Don't get me wrong.

The good business person says you should continue to maximize and continue to grow wherever you can.

And they're very much right.

That's just how capitalism works.

But at the end of the day, burnout is very easy in this industry.

And that kind of leads me into, into side quest 2, and that's taking control of the journey.

I think everybody could ask themselves, what's the one thing in your business that you've been waiting for someone else to fix?

You know, which parts of your business actually need your attention right now?

What's one change you could make today and what's stopping you from making that one change?

Those three things, I think if you answer them honestly, you'll find that you're pretty much full of shit.

And I think everybody has that moment as well.

One of the parts that needs the most attention in each business, I think is what follow up actually is, like what it really is and like what a business owner does does and what somebody who's related to sales does.

So I'm going to explain to you what the journey looked like and like what the day looked like.

Between a $12 million a year operation and somebody who's doing like 40 to $50,000 a month.

There isn't a ton different between them in, in terms of how they fundamentally operate because they both do the work, they both do it well.

The biggest difference was how they handled sales.

One person had to do sales and was focused on doing other things in the business as well.

That would be like the 30 or $40,000 shop.

That person had to answer leads in a timely manner.

They had to make moves for the business, manage payroll and all these other things and that's fine, but you still have to execute sales at like a tier one level.

The difference at a 12 million dollar a year shop is that the person who's running sales did that all day.

Their job was to sit in their CRM and go back to leads who were 30, 60, 90 days old from setting reminders.

And none of which the intention of, of if it's, if it's really clear that leads aren't ready to convert immediately or an arc like still actively looking, then it's just to say hello, just to have a manual touch point.

That's what it takes, is nurturing those leads until they tell you to piss off.

And that's what the $12 million a year shops do, is they make somebody about creating that connection.

And that connection stems as far back as, hey, I spoke to you about three months ago about your vehicle.

You were thinking about getting something done.

I was just going through my list of cars that I had and yours came up and I just wanted to Ask you about it.

It could be whatever related to that person that you talk about.

But sometimes people just want to connect, man.

They just want a chance to say hello, get a chance to actually take part in a conversation.

That's real and that's what it means to do sales is to continuously reach in to the pipeline, continuously reach in, continuously make contact.

It doesn't matter if the contact isn't sales related.

You just have to make contact.

That's building brand affinity and building building trust so that they can convert when they're ready.

And that's what the sales job, that's what the sales position is all about.

People get really confused with this and they think that sales is only about just focusing on new leads and who's ready to buy right now.

Because if you've got a system down that continually reaches into the pipeline and continually touches leads, you could be on the phone all day long.

Like truthfully, nothing else could matter.

And you just gotta be willing to do that.

That's the truth.

So what's stopping you from doing that?

Is it too many people, too many things to do in the business?

I think the number one thing probably that people will say to that is, well, I need to figure out ways to make money right now.

Okay, so is there solid.

There's a possibility that you may have scaled and grown your business too fast and are now in this arbitrage of having to constantly pay Google and pay Facebook and requiring new, requiring constants, requiring input.

Think about that when you approach sales and how you're building that particular part of your business.

Because I think if you're really honest with yourself that you know for a fact that you're not willing to do that level of work, if you say you're the only person that can sell in your business, then okay, well, what systems or people or things do you need in place to help you do that all day long?

Me personally, in our shop we use Grit suite and that allows us to reach back into the pipeline as far as we need to go to understand what a lead submitted with, when they submitted it, and what our conversation was.

It lets us track that on a per individual basis so we can have an entire history of conversations logged together.

And it ties into all of our other marketing systems.

And I think this might be the most insightful piece.

And that's.

When was the last time we looked in the mirror?

When was the last time we took a look at our reflection?

What if we could go back six months?

What would we, what would we tell ourselves?

What Would we warn ourselves about?

What would we tell ourselves to focus on?

And better yet, what services are we excited about?

Which drain us and which excite us?

And what patterns keep showing up during those excited and draining times during the slow and busy season?

And how are we tracking that?

What are we noticing?

What data are we examining in the business?

And I think that if we took a deeper reflection of what's working, what isn't, and actually tracking in the business itself related to how we do things, then I'm willing to bet we would make a lot more ground up when we put that time and energy in.

Are we getting work done faster when we follow this process using this pad and pad polish combo?

What about the swash process?

Do we get better results doing this or doing that?

And I really hate paint correction, but, man, I love the wash process.

So it's.

It's understanding and reflecting on what those pieces are in the business and then magnifying the pieces that you'd like to do and getting rid of the pieces that you don't want to do and let somebody else do them.

Because if you can't do this and have fun and, like, truly enjoy what you do every day, and you can't do that with anything, then you need to get somebody who can.

I think one of the most important pieces is the value compass for your business.

What's the one principle you won't compromise on in your business?

And I want you to ask yourself these questions.

How do your values show up in pricing?

What does quality mean to you?

And how are you handling situations that challenge your values?

I think that those.

Those questions really give you a chance to just really honestly reflect upon where you're at and where you're going, what you want for yourself and for your business.

The quality question should really ring some answers for a lot of people, because it's different for everybody, especially compared to in paint protection film.

You got guys that are like, oh, it's only another five minutes to, you know, pop that tail light out.

It's only another five minutes to, you know, take that trim off, okay?

And that's because you value getting that hidden seam, and you value you that.

You value that look.

Very specific look.

But as you did, your customer also value that, or you just slapping film on and stretching and wrapping edges just for you.

Those are some things to think about, because there are some people that just don't put value in that, and they put value in protecting the majority of the car versus protecting the perfect look.

And does your value reflect the Things that you value in the business, is that reflected in your pricing?

And are you ensuring that that value is reflected in your reputation?

And are you, are you even moving towards building reputation for doing that?

Whatever thing is at a super high quality level?

Now, who keeps you honest about your business goals?

How do you track progress?

What metrics matter most to you?

And how often are you reviewing your business performance?

These are all questions that we can all ask ourselves.

If we're really honest, we'll reveal exactly what needs to be worked on, and it'll reveal exactly where we need to go and what we need to do.

We have to track.

You can't not track in a business because it relies on numbers.

A business relies on numbers and people.

So we, if we don't have a system of tracking anything, then what's the point?

What are we doing?

We're just out here just running a job and working for customers.

So putting those systems in place to help you track performance will be one of the biggest game changers for you when you sit down and take the time to actually do it.

And one of the best things that I did was I created a personal board meeting system for myself.

And I, I put myself in a seat where I look at my last 30 days from different points of view.

And I have the system person, I have the people person, and I have the money person.

And whenever I look at the business and what I'm doing, I put that hat on, so to speak, and I approach the business strictly from that point of view.

And then I figure out how the three of them talk and connect.

And if they don't, it's my job to find out and create the synergy between those points to make them work.

And that also takes a very, very, very honest and accountable approach to your business and how you perform.

And I think that if we're not doing that, we're not being honest and we're not holding ourselves accountable to, to what we would call a value forward standard.

And there's no growth in a business that doesn't have a value forward standard.

Because value and forward growth only comes from having value in ourselves and having value in our business.

It does not come just from putting the work in.

Let's talk about taking action.

What's one change you've been overthinking?

What's the worst that could happen?

What's holding you back?

Okay, it's scary.

Okay.

How could you break it down into smaller steps?

And I think that this is a really big problem in our sector, and that's Everybody overthinks things and it causes procrastination and it causes so much procrastination that it drives people into anxiety.

You haven't been putting enough time and energy into creating personal connections and reaching really far into your pipeline to get those people out and to continue to build relationships and continue to offer to have them come meet you at the shop.

You're procrastinating on putting that level of time and energy in.

You're procrastinating on firing the person that's a toxic cancer in your shop.

You're procrastinating on making the right moves for your business.

You're procrastinating on ending a relationship that you know that you should.

Now that could be detailing or otherwise.

That's your call.

Detailing creates distraction because perfection is an endless chase.

And this might be the most poetic thing that I have ever said.

Detailing is an industry that very much allows people to create and manifest detail, distraction for themselves.

And it's often the biggest struggle that they have in a business because it creates a system of procrastination.

Because there is always something to make their, their thing or process or situation or something else better versus the hard thing that they actually need to do.

And that's focusing more on like quick wins and instant, instant gratification versus delayed gratification and having an actual decision making framework for how you make choices for yourself.

Now it's hard to build all these things because truthfully, they're extremely difficult to use.

They're.

This is extremely difficult to build.

But it takes a really honest look inside of ourselves to be able to say that's holding me back and I need to change that.

When was the last time you had fun in your business?

You know, there, there's no, there's no hard point on fun.

But joy and fun is typically the things that excite you and allow you to be in a, in a way disconnected from the business.

What parts of the business allow you to do that?

What aspects still excite you?

What's preventing you from doing more of those things in your business?

Because listen, business for this business, unless you're just going to be a money guy, it is supposed to be fun regardless of what you take, what you say.

Now if the fun aligns with what it is you truly enjoy, that's fantastic.

There's a difference between recharging fun and exciting fun.

Those are two totally different things.

Exciting fun are the things that happen when you meet or achieve micro goals inside of your business.

And they, you get that dopamine blast.

And you're.

You're further reinforced to put time and energy into those things.

But don't ever forget, you still need to have rest and recharge fund.

Now, that could still be in the business, but you need to pick which one that is.

You need to pick the thing that causes that and lets you do that.

It could, because it can't just be not fun all day.

It can't just be ugly, and it can't just be anxiety and worry all day.

And you can help avoid some of those things by going out and building connections.

Building connections in the community, even if there's not any money to be made.

A great example of this is when I gave a seminar at a local high school to their body shop program.

And I came in and I gave the kids a bunch of insights into paint correction and handling interior surfaces.

Some of the things like the.

The actual instructor didn't understand, and he was like, oh, man.

Okay, now I understand.

Now I see why we're leaving holograms in paint and things like that.

It's putting yourself out there and creating connections to your community, putting time and energy into that.

Even if they don't move the needle on revenue, they will eventually move the needle on revenue.

Because community connection is and always will be a lever you can pull on for growth.

Because the more connected you are to your community, the easier it is for people to come and spend money with you.

And your community is defined by whatever community you decide to serve.

It could even be education opportunities.

When was the last time you held a customer appreciation where you have people come over the shop and, you know, just talk shop and, you know, you ordered some pizzas or you got some catering and you just hung out.

You know, no real major thing to do.

You know, people do show up to that.

And those are opportunities to.

To talk and educate and connect with your community.

And it is something that I highly recommend every shop do.

So I hope this episode of Talking Paint was helpful for you today.

Uh, I wanted to just kind of take the high road and just let's, like, look down at the business that we built for ourselves and take a moment to really examine where we want to go and how we want to go, because it's.

That's.

That's always a little bit more tactical of a decision is how do we.

How do we get to the point where it is that we get to enjoy what we do most every day?

And you get to do that by making decisive, tactical choices based upon what's real and not what the anxiety version of you or the upset version of you says is real and that's a learned skill and you might take a minute to get there.

If any of this was helpful for you, I would appreciate if you left us a review or a thumbs up here on the podcast platform.

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Sign up for the Detail Shift newsletter and set up for a free strategy session.

I'll get on the phone call.

I'll get on a call with you and show you exactly what's wrong with the business and what you could focus on to do better.

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Good luck to you out there.

I'll see you in the next one.