Do It For A Living

Back in early 2000, Chris Raymond was building websites and forums for other people. He saw a void in the market for a DSM forum and set out to make one himself. This is what spawned DSMTuners.com He also runs Garage 40 which focusses on automotive businesses to help them with social media, email marketing, web design, and reputation management. Brand management is tough because you have to be in every place when your shop or product is talked about by your audience. In this interview, Chris explains the ever-changing atmosphere of online marketing and what you need to be doing to succeed.

Tim Bailey was one of the early Subaru tuners when the WRX hit the states. Eventually, he started Surgeline Performance which was later purchased by Trey Cobb. While Tim still works on the actual tuning, most of his time is spent controlling the dealer and tuner network for Cobb. Now he travels all over the country to set up new dealers and help out existing ones. In this interview, he goes into detail about how they manage that network and why it is so important to regulate the prices of their products.

Chase Lautenbach & Justin Keith created Street Car Takeover just a few years ago because they saw a void in the racing market for more “streetable” cars to compete in drag racing and roll racing. Their series has expanded to 10 events in 2016 and they are looking to keep growing. While the main event is the drag racing, Street Car Takeover also incorporates a shop open house, car show, and other meetup prior to the actual racing. They want to offer more experience for the fans and encourage people to participate.

When the Modified Magazine decided to stop printing the physical magazine, both Peter and Dave found themselves without a job. So they looked for alternative means to produce content and decided on YouTube. In their channel, Speed Academy, they “focus on bringing performance oriented content to car enthusiast.” They have found that a website and YouTube channel are the perfect combination to generate content, get participation from fans, and provide the means to collect advertising money to keep going.  Listen in as they provide advice for shops looking to reach a greater audience.

Rhys is a professional driver. But did you know that he is also a shop owner? He has taken his love for racing and turned it into a successful company. Rhys Millen Racing produces parts, builds movie cars, and champions race teams. His repertoire includes Global RallyCross, Pikes Peak, Formula Drift, Fast & Furious cars, Penzoil commercials, and RedBull sponsorships. The dedication to the sport and the constant drive to get new contracts puts Rhys in the upper echelon of specialty shops. Tune in as he talks about the challenges of meeting deadlines and the time required to maintain his place in the industry.

Lucas English of English Racing currently has built the fastest Evo X in the world. They have also been a key player in pushing the GTR to the limits at the drag strip. He has grown from humble beginnings in the DSM scene to a world-renowned shop for fast imports. English Racing is located next to Lucas’ house in a rural area outside of Vancouver, WA (just north of Portland, OR). He has struggled with land usage permits, neighbor complaints, and unrealistic expectations from customers. But his story shows that hard work and determination can make you successful.

Mark Jager doesn’t own a shop and he isn’t a professional driver. He is an enthusiast who loves to go fast and continues to push his car to the limits! Mark’s efforts off the track have raised the bar for how a driver/team can help their sponsors by actively providing updates, attending events, and using social media to generate exposure.  Mark addresses some of the shortcoming that are prevalent in the racing industry when it comes to sponsorship and hopes his story can help change it.

Jimi Day from FM3 Marketing discusses how he went from being an investment banker, to a shop owner, and finally to a marketing company that hosts and promotes motorsports events.  His company is most well known for their involvement in the Hot Rod Power Tour, Holley LS Fest, the Optima Search for the Ultimate Street Car series, and their newest event called Road Trip. He took his expertise at writing proposals and took that knowledge to get sponsorships for builds. He emphasizes that you need to be humble and try to continually improve how you do business.

In Kevin Dubois’ first interview as an additional host, he talks with his partner, Todd Earsley, about how they are going to keep Do It For A Living going! They will be helping Reid to do more interviews and provide more episodes for the listeners. Todd took his experience in business school and partnered with Kevin Dubois to help make shops more profitable. In today’s immediate satisfaction, internet market, it has become more and more important for shops to ensure their service side is operating at its fullest potential.

Kevin Dubois is the co-founder of My Shop Assist, a project management system designed specifically for aftermarket automotive shops.  He took his experience (and mistakes) as the owner of Evolution Dynamics to create a tool to help owners run their shop more efficiently.  After a tremendous crash at Pikes Peak in 2012, he decided it was time to buckle down and get serious about turning his performance shop from a hobby to a real business.

Belak Industries is a wheel manufacturer based out of Miami, FL focused primarily on Honda drag racing. Damian Borroto established Belak Industries in 2012 after a decade working in multiple Honda speed shops in the Miami area, and eventually opening his own shop, TD Autowerkes. Damian has a “can-do, make-it-happen attitude” and he survived some serious setbacks in the last year. In 2014 he had his race car and trailer stolen, only to get pieces of it back. So he set out to build another car, and did! But on it’s first outing, a freak accident caused it to wreck, and total the chassis. Now he’s on to building his third SFWD race car and he hasn’t even considered giving up! Game Changing Product: ID1700, Belak Wheels, AEM Infinity, FTW Fuel Most useful software program: Windows Favorite App: Pandora, WhatsApp, Instagram   Favorite Shop Tool: Hammer!... and his Dyno

Chris Jewell has been around the import performance industry since the beginning with multiple different companies. He currently owns Competition Clutch, a clutch company focused on import performance clutches. In this interview Chris talks a lot about mixing friends with business and how he’s mistakenly thought that his business partners were his friends. Chris says that his Achilles heel is “that I fucking care about people too much.” And he says that he focuses too much on the personal relationship and sometimes forgets that “it’s business.” With only a 9th grade education Chris built an influential business and he talks about how it all went down.   

John Veloso owns and operates K-Tuned, a product manufacturing company that is hyper-focused on the Honda K-series engine. They make high-quality, functional engine parts focused entirely on the K-series. John and I discuss his background, and his view on the world. He tells the story of his upbringing and how it all came to be. We discussed his business, and business in general. John’s business is customer focused and he makes a point to not take a customer’s money until he has the product to fulfill the order. He puts the responsibility on himself and his team to make sure they have inventory on-hand. In a time when everybody is trying to be everything to everyone, K-Tuned is successful largely because they stay focused and know their strengths. There’s no fancy this or that, just common sense and treating people right. This is a good listen. Enjoy!  

Brian Gillespie is co-owner of Hasport Performance, a company focused entirely on quality engine swap components for Honda’s.  The company started out as a Honda/Acura salvage yard and quickly grew into something bigger. Hasport pioneered billet aluminum engine mounts and has a strong focus on customer support. An innovator in the industry, Hasport Performance is now a fully-equipped manufacturing facility and it’s all grown from the Honda street racing scene in the 90’s! Brian’s learned a lot over the years and is here to offer us all some guidance. Enjoy! Action items that you can do THIS WEEK:                              1.       Look at what the Hot Rod guys are doing, and use that for inspiration to come up with ideas for the import scene 2.       Subscribe to Racecar Engineering Magazine Game Changing Product: OEM Turbo cars and AEM Infinity Most useful software program: Solidworks, Skitch Favorite App: iPhone alarms to keep himself on point and on time, Overcast podcast app Favorite Shop Tool: Faro Ar

Straight outta Detroit, Nick is a big cubic inch kind of dude. His childhood was all about big displacement and American muscle but now he says the focus is on improving engine efficiency. He comes from a family of home builders and electricians and has risen as the gatekeeper at Wiseco pistons. Nick and I discuss his story and how the industry looks today, from his viewpoint. He works for one of the larger corporations in the automotive performance industry so he offers a unique perspective. Game Changing Product: Davis Traction Control Most useful software program: Office 365 feature called “Lync” Favorite App: Soar   Favorite Shop Tool: Kent Moore Digital Torque to Angle Meter

“Bottle” and Nero Deliwala are the owners of Titan Motorsports, one of the founding internet e-commerce businesses in the performance automotive world. They were involved back in the days when NOPI was a big player and the OEM’s were sponsoring import drag racing. In this episode we talk about how racing fuels their distribution business and how their business has grown and changed over the years. From a college dorm room to a multi-million dollar business, Titan Motorsports has taught these guys a thing or two about business and they share some lessons in this episode. 

John Shepherd is a legend in the import drag racing world. First with DSM’s and now with GTR’s. But did you know that throughout the 90’s Shep worked as a tech at a dealership? Then one day the dealership went out of business and he was jobless. Not long after, Shep got some encouragement from a friend and started out on his own. Now, over a decade later he’s world-renowned for his attention to detail when building super high-performance transmissions. In this episode Shep and I talk about all the little details that go into building a business including the daily grind, and even the mindset he had when starting out. It’s useful encouragement for any aspiring shop owner!

Marc and Eric Kozeluh are identical twin brothers from New York who grew up reading Hot Rod Magazine. These guys came up at the time that B-series engines were making damn near the same power as a Mustang 5.0 and they wanted to know more. Like any story worth telling, they had some serious obstacles to overcome and they conquered and made a statement because they were willing to put in the time. If you’ve ever used your upbringing as a crutch then you need to stop being a little bitch and listen to this. 

Everyone in this industry has at some point asked themselves “why am I doing this?” Jeremy Allen has been working at Inline Pro for a career since his early 20’s. Like a lot of us, it started as a lifestyle and turned into his job. Now 14 years in, Jeremy talks about how he keeps everyone happy; from his customers, to his boss, and even his kids.   

Everyone has had an experience where they say “if I was the boss, I would do things differently!” Tom Roberts spent most of his career working for someone else and in the process he gained a lot of experience. Most importantly he’s learned how to work with other people so the whole group can thrive! Tom started Autonerdz so he could supply oscilloscopes to automotive repair shops, but he took it one step further; he created a useful forum for users to interact, and ask each other questions and share experiences. Now Tom and his team at Autonerdz sell and support Picoscope oscilloscopes to the whole world and I thought everyone should know about this resource! Enjoy!