TALKIN' PAINT PODCAST | SEASON 2 - EPISODE #21 There's Levels To This | Understanding the 5 Levels of Paint Protection Film Shops

Gabe Fletcher: 00:00:00

It's not just like, Oh, well, let's wing

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it and see where we're going.

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No, if you want a specific level and

you want a specific point in which your

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journey is going to going to grow and

scale, and you're going to put yourself

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in a better position, then you have to

look at it from a holistic, what do I do?

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How do I do it?

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How have.

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Others done it, have I asked

those people how they've done it

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and how am I going to execute it?

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Hey everybody.

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It's Gabe at the talking paint podcast.

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Welcome back.

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Thank you for listening.

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This podcast is sponsored

by detailing growth.

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com.

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That's detailing.

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Today, I wanted to take a minute and

talk about something that I thought would

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hopefully help some people just kind

of maybe realize that they're a part of

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their, where they're at in their journey

when it comes to pain protection film.

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And I've worked with shops up and down

both coasts across the country, and there

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seems to be a tier of shop that is, dare

I say it's self imposed tiering, right?

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from the shop itself and also just

from what industry experts expect

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from a paint protection film shop.

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So there are a few different ways

that you can approach implementing

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PPF in your business and there

are different types of businesses

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for PPF across the country here.

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So they've kind of been broken

down into five different levels and

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that's what this podcast is today,

to talk about what those levels are.

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This is the first, this is what we call

level zero or starting from Challenges

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they face is they're afraid of investing

in Getting a plotter and having

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limited skills and low output quality.

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Valid points, right?

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This is gonna definitely be

your starting point if you're

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thinking about getting into film.

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Do I buy a plotter?

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Do I not buy a plotter?

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Do I go to training?

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Do I not go to training?

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How do I make sure that I give

quality and value for my clients?

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My answer to that is of course,

maybe skip the plotter first,

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get yourself some training.

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At the bare minimum, put

your hands on the film.

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Buy a roll of film.

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You can buy film online or from a

number of other film manufacturers

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and distributors here in the industry.

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You can get your hands on

something from like Global or

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whatever it is for pretty cheap.

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And all you got to do is start

playing with it and like you're doing

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headlights, you're doing partial hoods,

you might do some mirrors, some door

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edges, some rockers, small stuff.

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You can get your hands wet,

so to speak, not dirty because

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dirty hands and PPF don't mix.

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You want to get your hands wet.

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You can dabble in this

and you can grow into PPF.

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You don't need to jump in

with a 10, 000 investment.

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You can jump in with just the

basics, squeegees, knife, heat gun.

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Just take your time and be careful.

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What we consider level one shop, or we

could call you a plotter pioneer, is you

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got yourself a plotter, you're learning

software, you're cutting patterns out

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on that software, you may not really

understand where your pricing is,

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you've got high competition, or you've

got competitors, and you don't really

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have super high confidence in yourself.

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So that's also a normal stage

in your progression path.

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So you want to get your ethos

and why you're better and

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why you're different defined.

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You want to continue to work on your

film handling, work on your quality,

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make sure you've got the basics down.

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Just keep going.

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Keep putting the reps in and

just be sure that it makes sense

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for you and that you're not just

burning up film left and right.

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This is also a point where if

you've got the capital to acquire

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a plotter, you probably should have

had the capital to go to training.

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So training is a fundamental

important part of growing and

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scaling up in paint protection film.

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Because training that's available

online, a level of information that's

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available online to like understand

what paint protection film does and

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doesn't do and the nuances of it.

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It's very scattered with the exception

of Autofilm Mastery with Mike Norn.

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You can purchase that program

from them and don't get me wrong.

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You get a decent sense of what film is

and how to handle it and the different

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components, but there's nothing

that's going to be in person training.

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And if I had to guess where you should

go for training, I would definitely say.

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Hit up Jamie Werner at Equip Academy.

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You could do manufacturer based

training like Ceramic Pro or X Bell.

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Autobahn has a decent training

program from what I've seen.

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There's training programs from

different film manufacturers.

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Mike Noring has a training that he does

in house, although very, very expensive.

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And I don't think he does

it very much anymore.

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Only for people that

really, really want it.

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And, truth be told, where you go for

training can often decide and set you up.

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For the level of speed and which you are

going to ramp through these shop stages.

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So pick the right training facility

and one that matches the most

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for you and your trajectory.

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Then you kind of jump

up to a level two shop.

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This is what we call

like solid foundation.

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You've got basics down.

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You're continuing to use

computer cut software.

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You're adjusting kits in the software.

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You might bulk a hood.

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You might bulk headlights.

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You've got a solid understanding

of where your costs are in terms of

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like, how much you're spending on

film per job, how long it's taking.

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Jobs are probably still taking too long at

this stage because you're still learning.

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You're having an issue with

setting customer expectations.

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You might have imperfections in your

installs that are driving you crazy.

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So this is all again, a part of the

growth path and there are things here

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that every shop at some point experiences.

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And we step up here, what

we call level three, you.

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Probably got a pretty

solid ground to stand on.

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You're an established

expert shop in the area.

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You have good solid knife skills.

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You can bulk most work, although you're

probably still leaning on computer

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cut business on computer cut patterns.

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You're mixing installation techniques

in bulk and custom and hybrid.

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You probably got a really strong market

position and you've got your pricing

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dialed in and you've got a solid ethos

as to why people should choose you.

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So, you know, this is kind of the scale.

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At which most shops are going to

start seeing positive return on

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investment into paint protection film.

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And this is usually after about

a year and a half to doing PPF.

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This is kind of where you're at.

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Usually about a year to a year and a half.

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This is just a level four shop.

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This is what we're going

to call Titan status.

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This is going to be where You are the

known go to for paint protection film in

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your area and for doing it right at the

highest tier, highest quality possible.

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You have a team of installers

that have exceptional skills.

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You have a strong brand reputation.

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You've got solid financial

extraction happening from your

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paint protection film department.

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You have set yourself

apart from everybody else.

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You've got dedication.

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You've got team building

going on all the time.

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You've got optimization in your process.

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You've got all these things dialed in.

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And you.

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You are probably, you know, net positive

on paint protection film at this point.

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And this isn't the top either.

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There is one level above this, and

that's level five protective only shops.

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Meaning this is a shop that only does

film, and that's its primary offering

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is film, automotive protection film.

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This is going to be your AFS Houston's,

your protective film solutions.

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Ryan Townsley.

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It's going to be shops

like ours, ceramic paint.

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It's gonna be your

Menards Premium Detailing.

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It's gonna be these shops

that primarily focus on film.

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What they do, day in and day out,

is mainly paint protection film.

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And it takes a while to get there.

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You gotta really, really make sure

that you're structuring your business

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appropriately for that level.

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Because, You don't just jump straight

in and you don't go into being a

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protective only type of business without

getting through the rest of them.

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First, it takes time, effort, and money.

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Three years, usually minimum

to even get to that point where

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you're starting to figure that out.

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And truthfully, the growth record

based upon what you envision for

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yourself can be much longer than that.

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You could be having to put five

years into this before you get there.

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You could be a two years,

you could be a three years.

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It all depends on your level of

commitment to putting your business

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where you want it to be and using the

tools available to steer and guide you.

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guide the business towards that.

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If you want that for your

business, you need to create

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a plan and execute the plan.

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It's not just like, Oh, well let's

wing it and see where we're going.

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No.

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If you want a specific level and you

want a specific point in which your

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journey is going to grow and scale, and

you're going to put yourself in a better

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position, then you have to look at it

from a holistic, holistic perspective.

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What do I do?

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How do I do it?

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How have others done it?

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Have I asked those people how

they've done it and how am I

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going to execute it myself?

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And it's with all of that information

that you can start to put together a

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solid plan to grow and to put yourself

into these different shop tiers.

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And at the end of the day, my takeaway

message is that it doesn't matter

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where you're at in film and it

doesn't matter where you've started.

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As long as you start, As long

as you move through progression

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and you move through with pace.

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And you understand your pacing

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real quick.

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I also wanted to let you know

about our detail shift newsletter.

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Our detail shift newsletter

is completely free.

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You can sign up for it at detail

shift dot email detail shift is a

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extremely clear and actionable email

newsletter that I personally write

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and send out several times a month.

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That contains lessons I've

learned and dials it back in easy

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ways for everybody to digest.

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you'll ever get in your inbox.

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So you can sign up for

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email now.

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You understand your skillset and

you're taking the time to know

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and see where you are, but also.

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Not letting your current

stage inhibit your growth.

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Just know that it takes time

and it takes reps to learn.

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Without time and reps, you're not gonna

improve and you're not going to win.

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You have to put time and reps in.

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You can't skip that part.

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That's the hard work.

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You can't skip the reps.

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You can't skip the tongue lashings.

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You can't skip unhappy customers.

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You can't skip the negatives.

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You can't skip employees leaving.

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You can't skip costs rising.

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You can't skip all of these problems

that come up in the shop and

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through the part of the business.

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You're not going to be able to skip it.

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You can try and anticipate it, but

you're not going to be able to skip it.

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I need you to realize that if you want

to put yourself and your business in

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a different position, you need to Be

ready to take your lashings through

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the journey because let me tell you

that if you go through this expecting

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not to have any lashes, not to get

any whoopings or get knocked down,

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you are going to be very, very sorely

mistaken and have a very sombering

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awakening as you work through this.

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So I hope that some of this was helpful

for you guys and that you kind of got

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An idea for where you're at in your

business and where you want to go.

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Hopefully some of this was helpful.

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If you've listened to this and you

found it helpful, please leave a

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rating on Apple podcasts or whatever

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please leave a comment.

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Five stars is what I'd love to see.

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If you want to see us cover

something, please reach out.

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If you have a business that you'd

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talk about something that's going on

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I will be more than happy to put you

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you and what we can dive into and give

you some actionable information on.

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So hopefully you guys had a good time.

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That's T A L K I N paint.

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com.

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All right.

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My name's Gabe.

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I'll see you next time.