OBSESSED GARAGE

Check out Matt's website here 

From Personal Struggle to Successful Business: The Journey of Matt Moreman 

In a candid conversation with Matt, the founder of 'Obsessed Garage', we delve into the fascinating story behind the evolution of his business from a personal struggle to a thriving venture. Matt's journey is not just about entrepreneurship; it's a testament to the transformative power of finding purpose in adversity.

Matt's background as a financial advisor provided him with financial stability but left him feeling isolated and disconnected. Wrapped up in the culture of modesty that permeates the financial industry, Matt found himself suppressing his true passions and emotions, striving to appear successful while battling inner turmoil.

It was during this period of introspection that Matt was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This diagnosis served as a wake-up call, prompting him to seek an outlet for his thoughts and emotions. Encouraged by his therapist to explore new avenues, Matt turned to his love for cars as a means of expression.

Initially, Matt began journaling his experiences as a car enthusiast on online forums. Sharing his insights and documenting his ownership journey of high-performance vehicles became a therapeutic exercise, allowing him to escape the confines of his mind and connect with like-minded individuals.

As he immersed himself in this creative outlet, Matt discovered a passion for videography. Transitioning from written journals to video blogs (vlogs), he found a medium that not only provided solace but also resonated with a wider audience.

Despite initial skepticism from others who urged him to conform to traditional editing styles, Matt remained true to himself. His videos were raw, uncut, and unapologetically authentic—a reflection of his journey towards self-acceptance.

With time, Matt's YouTube channel gained traction, attracting viewers drawn to his genuine storytelling and passion for cars. What began as a personal endeavor soon blossomed into a community of enthusiasts who found inspiration in Matt's honesty and vulnerability.

Driven by his newfound sense of purpose, Matt expanded his online presence, leveraging social media platforms to amplify his message. As his audience grew, so did the demand for his expertise and insight into the automotive world.

Today, Matt's Garage stands as a testament to the power of turning adversity into opportunity. What started as a therapeutic outlet has evolved into a multifaceted business encompassing consulting, content creation, and community engagement.

Through Matt's story, we are reminded that our greatest challenges can become our greatest strengths when we embrace them with courage and authenticity. His journey serves as a beacon of hope for anyone grappling with personal struggles, showing that resilience and passion can pave the way to a brighter future.

As we conclude our conversation with Matt, we are left inspired by his resilience, humbled by his honesty, and motivated to pursue our own passions with unwavering dedication. In Matt's Garage, we find not just a business but a testament to the transformative power of turning adversity into opportunity.

Hi Matt thanks for joining us do you want to just start off and tell us a little bit about your business? 

To answer your question about how I started this I um I was a financial advisor and at the time I was uh had a lot of responsibilities and I was making a pretty good living so I I thought I was awesome I had um sort of closed out most people in my life you know we're as financial advisers we're taught to be successful but to keep it to yourself you know you want to have a nice watch but not too nice of a watch you want to wear a nice suit but not too nice of a suit you want a decent car but you don't want to be driving around in a Lamborghini everywhere you go and so I had taken that to heart and uh you know didn't have a lot of friends didn't have a lot of connections and uh felt like I was on my own and I think you know now through lots of therapy I think what I figured out was you know I needed some people in my life and I I had um I had you know thought I was awesome and I think maybe there's some divine intervention that happened but somebody something came down kicked me in the brain and said look dude you're you're not all that uh so I was formally diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder and uh I was looking for some form of an outlet I wanted to get out of my own head and so I was it was the first time in my life where I was willing to listen to suggestion like I actually listen to somebody if they said hey maybe you should try this or try that uh and so I had um scoffed at the idea of a psychologist like why couldn't you just reason out you reason your way out of it or so I thought and so now I was open and the psychologist and I came up with came to the conclusion I needed to let some people into my life and I needed to maybe share some of this Obsession some of what I've learned uh some of the things that I've picked up over the years by being so obsessed uh and and maybe I could turn this really negative connotation into a contribution uh and so I set out on the car forums to start journaling the ownership experience of my uh f8 M3 so it was the 2015 M3 when it had come out so lots of interested in that and the new 991.1 GT3 a 2014 GT3 when that had come out I had both of those cars at the same time and so I started uh writing so taking photos and writing and I and I found that writing really helped my brain you know helped me get out of my own head helped me stop thinking about um you know all of my problems you know helped me stop thinking about the future whenever I was writing I felt like I was contributing uh and then I got some human human interaction in the way that I prefer human human interaction which is via you know via you know the computer via the Internet uh instead of having somebody there in person what I what I was attempting to do was to journal as if you were sitting on a chair in my garage next to me and then I was writing you know here's what I'm doing uh and then somebody on those forums uh made a suggestion and said you know it'd be smarter if you just set up a camera and it dawned on me you know that'd be a lot easier if instead of taking photos and writing descriptions which takes a lot of time a lot of effort uh maybe I could just learn how to edit learn how to you know learn how to use a camera and and so I set my camera up and I just started filming it just started videoing what I was doing at the time it was a Canon 5D Mark II so there was no autofocus so half the things are out of focus I didn't know how to edit but I did know how to export an iMovie to h.264 I could I could export to that and then upload to Youtube I submitted a special request to YouTube at the time because you weren't allowed to make over 15 minute videos in 2014 and so I started putting up just the whole washing process it was three hours long unedited uncut three hours of me just doing what I do and of course everybody told me um these are too long you need to edit this down you need to add some music you need to make this entertaining and I wasn't doing it for them I was doing it for me you know selfishly it was a form of therapy it was really just a way for me to support my you know my my my Vlogs or or support my journals so the vlogging of what I was doing in my garage turned into turned into uh you the video is what I fell in love with and so I started I started really spending more time uh making YouTube videos uh and you know eventually the journals and forums have kind of died off with the Advent of Facebook groups uh but the the the business started you know several years after that uh but the YouTube Channel and me sharing you know started out of a form of figuring out a way to turn my plight into a contribution to both me and the people around me uh and so that that's changed my life you know substantially and now you know now I have a business attached to that but that's how it all got started.

Being diagnosed with I guess OCD you were like were you kind of opening doors three times and turning light switches on and like is it that kind or?

No I I don't have man my manifest in the fear of the future and I'm constantly thinking of the future obsessing over the future um the future of um like if I'm driving down the road what about the stoplight that's coming up the future of I'm going to the dentist oh man what if I had gingivitis and or I'm getting a you know losing my all my teeth the fear of the unknown the fear of you know not having enough money the fear of all of those things and so I worry and constantly worry and then that you know manifests and anxiety and then the ultimate manifestation is I pass out uh and so lose Consciousness which is you know which is my ultimate fear uh and so I am obsessed with the potential of I could be passing out at any moment now I've passed out about 12 or 13 times in my life you know so I've gotten to the ultimate anxiety attack where my body goes into fight or flight I'm in Always In Flight and so I want to avoid any of that and so as you can tell I can explain this really well to you because I've been spending a lot of time obsessing over the attempt to fix this right to to to better myself and so I've um done many many different forms of therapy and I I want to be better I want to be good I want to be not this but I don't want to lose the essence because being obsessed has had such positive byproducts for me uh in that I've been very successful in business business very successful in life I've had you know a lot of benefits there are a lot of benefits that come from being this way um have you ever seen the movie Office Space uh in this in the movie Office Space he gets hypnotized and then he turns into like a you know just a total slug right and then he just loses all drive all motivation but that's like my ultimate fear is that if I were to you know or if I were to take something like C ayin or something like that that I would lose me you know that I would lose the essence of of what the obsession has done for me uh and so it's this constant thought and you know overthought and fear of the future um I used to have some rituals where I would have to like make a wish on that the clocks at 808 or something like that um but that was that was when I was younger I don't know what was going on but no I don't have any like have to wash my hands 100 times it's more manifested in the fear of the future and Obsession attached to that and then I'm very compulsive around having to stick to that you know and solve that problem and worry about the the perfect scenario and so when you worry about perfection it can be even if you got 50% of the way there which has been the story of my life if you get 50% of the way to the perfect scenario you end up with really great results the only problem is is when you're obsessed like I am I never give myself credit and that's what I'm learning to do now learning to give myself credit I'm learning to be okay with it I'm learning to Define what perfect would be uh because when you're when you suffer I do um I'm always thinking about a perfect scenario that is undefined that is unattainable uh and so why not make it attainable and make the perfect scenario exist at least on paper and then if I can get halfway there I can change the world cool so yeah basically you're you're able to channel these obsessions into something that's positive and you know you're not worrying about the future of like you know the the end of the world like a doomsday prepper or you're more like worried about trying to get the car perfectly clean or like having your tools set up correctly that you want like trying to channel that energy into something positive no um the fear for me is that I'm going to pass out right the byproduct is that my tools are organized because I I like that I enjoy that it makes me feel good it makes me think about something else rather than passing out so the byproduct of having a clean really dialed in car or the cleaned dland car is a byproduct of me being afraid of my own brain right and so this is where I think a lot of people misconstrue OCD and misconstrue the obsessive Tendencies and and my form is not the same as as everyone but generally speaking if the person's worried about locking the door 500 times um they're also worried about the organization of their you know their flat wear drawer but they're not really worried about the flatware drawer the flatware is what makes you feel calm what makes you feel at home what makes you feel at ease uh and because of all of that my you know obsessed about pools and the cleaning process and the structure of all of that there's some value you there right and so because I feel at home I feel good I'm not worried about passing out I'm not worried about the future I'm not worried about money and finances and doom and destruction I'm not worried about that if I'm organizing my tool drawer or I'm polishing a fender or if I'm washing my car because I'm focused on the Improvement of that it's my happy place and so that's taking me a long time to figure out what that is and what that's worth uh and because of this tendency um it's like I almost have like a supercharger when it comes to or I have a Turbocharger attached to my organization level uh and so because I'm at you know at a crazy level of organization a lot of people aspire to be that way and so there's some value that I could provide the World by sharing what I've learned by you know using that that turbocharger to go chase you know organization solution and things like that so my happy place is in the organization it's not the it's not the scared place the scared place is the other part of my brain that I'm attempting to shut off and occupy with something else I know it's convoluted I hope that makes sense but it's uh it's taking me a long time to figure out what's going on here in my brain.

Yeah it's interesting cuz I think there's a lot of people that are like you in terms of they they see the garage or their hobby as or their profession as like Automotive as their safe space their like meditation almost like a place where they can go and get away from the worries of the world and there probably are a lot of people that don't realize that they have like this Obsession that they have a compulsive like people call it disorder but if you're able to like switch it up and make it orderly I guess it no longer becomes a disorder become something that's positive. 

Yeah a contribution is what uh somebody has you know my coach told me at one point he said you know figure out a way to make things that you know are problematic for you a contribution to both you and the people around you and if you can figure out a way to create a you know a value proposition based on that now you can really you know change the world you can really um you know do well with that for for for for people around you and so me sharing that and being uh willing to to share it has helped me immensely you know therapeutically just to not take it all in not hold it all in uh and then you know the byproduct is that um you know I get to include others and then get to have some sort of relationship because when I first started this you know there's a there's a heavy materialistic element of all the things that I have a sincere interest in you know there's a there's a pursuit of you know expensive cars and expensive tools and expensive cabinets and fancy lights and all that stuff can be you know to me um I feel like it's oftentimes Mis misinterpreted um the fancy lights are something that I'm using to illuminate the garage to light the garage and then um because I've learned a lot about lights via this this Obsession via my happy place um I can provide some value to others and save them a lot of time and effort from buying the wrong lights because because I'm I've done it I've done the buying of the wrong lights uh and the lights are just an object but that's an object that's connects me to another human even though it's convoluted in an indirect form um you I'm looking for a certain type of human connection uh and the material object is what gets me there it's what gives me my my Pulpit where I can stand up and give my testimony on the light the light is just the thing that connects me to the world uh and uh and you know a lot of people from a 30,000 foot view May view that as well shoot he's just obsessed with the lights and care about people it's all about materialism when that's really not not the case I'm extremely gracious or or I I have an extreme sense of gratitude that I even can get those lights and find those lights and you know it's taken me a long time to figure out again what that means uh and so I don't feel a sense of show offness like I'm not trying to show you the lights or show off the lights I'm I have a s strong sense of gratitude for it having those lights having found those lights and I love sharing it with you because then that's how we connect and I can connect in my way of connecting and and not have to say well how's the weather you know what' you think about the this or that political party you I don't that's not interesting to me uh and so that's where obsessed garage has become a you know a homologation or an aggregate of of all types of people that have different types of obsession sounds like you know film making if you buy the wrong light or the the wrong tool even it's you know you can waste a lot of money on just having to replace that cuz it brakes you know same with like power tools I guess if you buy like the cheap version you might as well spend a bit more to try and get something that's a bit more quality that will last you a lot longer so I guess you've gone through that process of finding being the best products the things that work for you and in turn work for other people even the best product can still break you know what I'm pursuing is an excellent user experience you know and an excellent user experience doesn't have a time frame to it sometimes an excellent using user experience can be a shorter time frame than a poor quality user experience of a lesser quality product um so for example if you buy a GT Cup car you're going to get awesome performance around the track but that engine needs to be rebuilt every 80 or 90 hours right and so you would you know if you were to say well shoot the best product should last forever well you know the cup car is built purpose built for a specific application um so sometimes you know it usually usually is corelated where a great product with a great user experience has a longer lifespan um but I I caution a lot of people that are you know listening to my advice you know sometimes uh especially if you're dealing in the professional grade products you've got to work for it you know you've gota you've got to work for it and you got to understand that a commercial grade or prograde company doesn't have the customer service you know setup that a that a consumer based company would they don't have the margins to do it because they're spending all their time and money on the product I love those types of products and I'm willing to work for it uh and so I spend a lot of time educating people for example I sell Cox hose reels for the pressure washers and for vacuum hoses and sometimes you'll have to chase the threads you know to to get your hose to fit you might have to get a tap um sometimes you know the fit and finish of it isn't as beautiful as you'd like for the amount of money that you're spending uh because they're focused on the commercial customer that doesn't care about those things their directions aren't very good their packaging isn't beautiful um but their product is the best functional product that exists uh and so uh often times you have to be willing to make sacrifices and so I'm looking for the best you know functional user experience we call it the pursuit of functional Excellence uh and there is uh there is an understanding sometimes that needs to be uh portrayed or or needs some people need to understand you know what they're getting at times and so I think my place in the world is to really explain to people what they're getting and what to expect uh and if they you know if they if they should expect Perfection I'll let them know you know this particular product is perfect you should expect that uh or this P particular product here are the pros and cons here's what your expectations should be not what you're entitled to because we're I believe we're entitled to nothing in this world uh but what you should expect and and setting those expectations can be really powerful uh and and I am willing to fall on the sword um because I want it for myself uh and then the big Epiphany was realizing that well I can provide others value others value by by sharing what I learn you know would that be like teaching the correct technique as well like if you're using a tool incorrectly it's obviously going to break so you're saying you know this is how to use it correctly that will make it last that's lifetime yeah I I spent a lot of time on that in learning myself um and uh of often times I accidentally become an expert uh and uh am very rarely given that expert moniker by the audience right uh I'm okay with that uh of not getting the uh not getting the uh the credit for being an expert uh but uh but I generally I'm pursuing expertise like for example I've been really um working on health and fitness and to help battle this this crazy brain of mine I figure if maybe if I'm perfectly chemically balanced that maybe that would help you know with with some of the obsessed Tendencies uh and so I've been uh really focused on uh you know CrossFit as well as mountain biking and I'm not an expert mechanic when it comes to mountain bikes but I'm willing to share where I'm at and what I'm learning and deal with the Fallout of people you know calling you stupid I think you have to be willing to put yourself out there in order to get a result and then the magic of it is % of people call you stupid 50% of the people help you know they provide resources they provide information uh and then the other you know then then I spend a percentage of my time like I'm looking for a school like I'd like to go to a mechanic school you know where you would go if you were going to become a full-time professional cycling mechanic that to me is really interesting and so that pursuit of expertise that obsession with something new and interesting I think is what you know the whole obsess garage thing is about is people that that t have a tendency to want to pursue stuff like that whether it's your career whether it's your family or you know you're taking a vacation you're going to buy a new object uh most people that have these Tendencies have a have a tendency to pursue and obsess over whatever they've an interest in at the time.

Cool yeah so you you've obviously gone into depth in terms of finding every kind of possible tool or technique or everything that you need within a garage so when you come out with like a a product or a solution like that I'm just looking on your website you have like the complete bucket solution like so when you come up with a like some kind of product like that like what kind of thought process what kind of like testing and all that kind of things to get to that point where you're like willing to put it up for sale.

Did you purposely picked the most controversial thing I've ever launched? 

Oh did you want to talk about another thing?

That's that's the best example of of a you know a very misunderstood product right so um years ago this is before I started the YouTube channel before this event in 2014 um I uh there was company there's company called grit guard and they had a two bucket solution uh and so they had two buckets and you could just buy the package it was like 150 bucks or something like that and um and one day I bought it and I had it uh but I didn't like the buckets I didn't like the casters I didn't like the little stays that held the buckets in place I didn't like the connector plate but it was it was a nice experience because I had one for rinse and one for wash and it was my 4A into starting to wash using a two bucket method and so um I had those had those buckets and as I started to get a little bit beat up I I said you know I'd really like to replace the buckets uh and so I went online and I started doing research like I normally do every night around 700 PM so that's 7 to 11 p.m. is my happy place where I sit on the couch watch something on Netflix and or watch a uh you know NBA game or something and I have my laptop on my lap and I'm searching for for product searching for things that I I might find interesting uh and so I went and found every company that makes a bucket that I could find uh and I'm pretty good at Google searching pretty good at Deep digging deep and finding the professional companies and so I ordered 27 different buckets in all different sizes three gallon 5 gallon six gallon s gallon those are the bucket sizes that are made and so I ordered from all like US Plastics and Letica direct and I found whatever companies I could find that sold buckets the problem is most of them will sell you a single bucket so I'd have to buy like 10 or five and and so I have so I had uh probably 75 buckets show up probably spent a couple thousand dollars on these buckets right uh and then um I got the buckets and I'm testing the tensil strength I'm holding up to the light you know is it transparent how's the plastic is it splotchy is it is it nice and then I started washing and one of the things that was struggling with is I had a ford raptor at the time and I'd have to refill my buckets all the time like as as I'm dunking my Washman in I'm always having to go back and refill it uh and so I thought well maybe the seven gallon would be the way to go because it holds two gallons more of water and maybe I won't have to fill it the problem the seven gallons look kind of funky because they had a bunch of tears to it uh and the grit guard didn't fit in it very well uh and I found that at the end of it I ended up with like about three gallons of water left uh after washing my Raptor so then I thought well the six gallon is a lot more attractive this company Letica makes a really nice six gallon bucket and the

grit guard the added bonus is the grit guard fits in it nicely and leaves like another extra inch Gap and so the bottom of the bucket is where the dirt Falls is not exposed uh and I found that was the most efficient size uh was to have six gallon buckets uh and but the only way to get six gallon buckets if you didn't want to spend $50 a piece on a bucket like I had to was to buy them in pallets so I had to buy 188 at a time in order to make it usable and so I'm like well why don't I put together a bucket pack Ag and so instead of doing 2in casters with those six gallon buckets 3-in grit guard had those the 3-in rolled smoother and then taking their plate I hate diamond plate I think that's cheesy like that's like a dude thing that you do that like like dudes are normally tacky if I flipped it over flipped it upside down the connector plate was you know flat aluminum brushed aluminum on the top I didn't have to see the diamond plate that seemed to make sense and then G Garda just launched their new dollies uh and then when I put it all together it added up to like $230 something dollars cost my cost and I had to buy tens of thousands of dollars of it on pallets in order to make it cost that much uh and that would be for a three bucket solution because one for my wheels one for rinse one for wash and then I found a company that would use car vinyl instead of just putting a sticker on so the vinyl would be more durable uh and made the logos for the labels for them and that bucket package came out to $295 needs to fit in a box that's like four feet tall and 2 by two wide so as you might imagine cost a fortune to ship and so I launched the bucket package saying hey look I spent probably $55,000 of trial and error to figure out my bucket package and I'm selling it to you for the 230 bucks plus a mark so I'm making 50 60 $70 on it depending on you know what version of it you po uh and so I'm making a margin not a crazy margin and yet the internet didn't believe me no one believed that the buckets there's no way I could buy these buckets for $50 and of course if you went and did and said well I'm going to buy bucket dollies I'm going to buy 3inch casters I'm going to buy the connector plate I'm going to buy the gamma seals I'm going to buy all of the parts and pieces and oh by the way I have to buy 188 buckets at a time then you start to realize oh shoot maybe these buckets are the way to go but I think the the story of Obsessed garage is 27 buckets to find the one and I threw away or gave away I put those buckets on the curb so a couple thousand dollars wor the buckets most of the bucket cost was shipping to get it to me because you can't ship a bucket efficiently and to be willing to and I I wasn't planning on selling buckets I have no idea I would sell buckets at at the time so I never knew I would recoup that but I wanted a great solution a great experience when washing the car and so that's where the bucket package comes from and so you spend 300 bucks on a bucket package and tell me I'm an idiot for how much it costs but if you knew what it would have cost you and now you get to see it on my website it makes perfect sense but that package didn't exist now it's everywhere everywhere with five gallon buckets instead of six because most people don't realize that six gallon is a superior bucket size to use it's harder to find the bucket's more expensive but you know let's build what what it needs to be not to a price point right.

Yeah because like people don't realize how much things actually cost when you know you have to go through all the different Avenues and like someone like Home Depot that's why a lot of the the mom and pop shops go out of business cuz they have that bulk like Amazon on like they can buy thousands of units and have them made for 5 cents on a dollar but when you try to order like five or six or 10 or 20 even it's just like you have to pay for all that shipping and everything adds up.

My thesis in the beginning after making the videos and realizing you know using as a form of therapy I I built the obsess garage.com website as a way to just give people links to where to go buy stuff but I found it so difficult to send people where do you buy buckets where do you buy a pressure washer and then all these fittings from 10 different companies from all over the place and so the obsess garage.com store was was born because of that inconvenience I built an entire website with exact Links of where to get stuff and people still couldn't get it done they couldn't figure it out like the companies wouldn't have the product or

they just they said Matt what can't you just can you please just tell me where to get this in one spot and there wasn't one didn't exist uh and so I made it exist and the thesis was that I would make one one click Solutions uh and um what I would do is because because I'm I'm finding products from all over the world I don't have a lot of buying power because I'm not just buying from one place you like Home Depot will buy everything Milwaukee and only Milwaukee and so they're narrow and deep in that one company and that's it you know or you know they'll they'll they'll negotiate with a brand to say hey we we'll only buy your products like Hunter they buy Hunter lighting or Leonia so they have like two Brands they deal with but I'm looking for the best in class in each category and so my thesis was I can't discount because I don't have the margins to do it so we're not going to run all kinds of sales and and get play those games and I have to charge for shipping and so as I get bigger and I get better rates with ups and and and with USPS I'll I'll I'll charge you know charge just flat whatever whatever they charge me uh and so I knew that that would put me at an extreme competitive disadvantage uh but it um you know it's clearly working out and that people want somebody to make this solution want to want to come up with a solution and they're happy to pay me a a reasonable margin to do that we don't Mark things up above retail so I ask for the retail price not on sale uh and then we ask our customers to pay for shipping know because that is a cost I cannot I cannot assume I can't take on the cost of shipping because I don't have the margin to eat it like you know a Chinese Amazon very very high margin very inexpensive product might have uh and plus I'm not going to Maguire's and saying hey I'm just going to buy all Maguire stuff so give me a 50 60% margin because I'm going to go narrow and deep with you because McGuire's actually MCU doesn't have a single product that I'm using at the moment right and I'm sure it's like a lot of like you said a lot of uh trial and eror a lot of testing involved a lot of like research to find the best products and and people obviously trust your opinion and if you're going to put something on your website it's it's better be a good product it's going to be good you know it probably is great and um and if it's not the best hopefully I'm going to figure out what the best is at some point in the future or have the company make it differently you know and that's where I think I'm headed in the future is we found maybe not the bottom of the barrel of what exists but the future is to go and make things that don't exist exist you know so take things to another level of of of excellent uh and so that's where I think my future is headed uh is to is to we found the best products that exist for the garage now let's go out and take those products to another level of what we'd all want.

And then you have like a a member a membership like offering so for the people I guess like the Die Hard fans like what kind of things can they expect to get to by being a member? 

I found myself sharing more and more personal stuff on you on YouTube and on the channel and I found that you know some there's some I would hold back on uh things that you know I'd like to talk about like for examp example I just bought a building you know so the first building I bought uh ogq Al so all of our all of our the buildings I'm Leasing and renting and we're all coming to one spot uh and so you know it just doesn't sit as well when you share the particulars and what you go through and the negotiation process and what it's not about what the building cost it's about the the data and and it's about the learning process that I'm going through and learning how to buy a multi-million doll building like how do you do that and no one wants to tell you because uh it doesn't it's not it's not very polite you know it's not polite in society to talk about you know money and things like that and so I wanted to build a membership platform where I could have those discussions with people without any judgment assessment or opinion from the people watching that I'm not again I'm not attempting to to show off I'm sharing what I've learned and then shoot I had a couple of emails in my inbox of some people with some extra expertise on insurance and expertise on warehousing that watch those videos and they were able to sort of contribute to me and and I can contribute back to them by making more videos and so the inside the hex membership program was is designed for me to be able to journal and share the you know so the inner workings of the business as I learn and as I grow as me as a human as the business grows uh and then share a little bit more inside access into family life and and I I think there's a lot of potential value there in Sharing um you know if you share your life it could be confirming to others okay yeah I I think the same or I I do that that as well it could be a you know way for me to share what I've learned and maybe people to contribute back to me and share what they've learned uh and so the inside of hex membership platform is a lot of me either sitting down and fr my camera and talking about life business uh things that I'm discovering or just vlogging my day in life and sharing you know how I go about my morning how I go about my midday how I go about my evenings uh and how I talk to my kids those kind of things and so rather than putting that public uh we have it on our website and it's eight bucks a month and you pay and that's how I you know generate a little bit more profitability to hopefully you know someday be able to you know buy continue to buy the cars I want and things like that uh and the only way you convince people to do that is if you provide them some value and I've used that word a lot byproduct and value the byproduct of obsession and the value provided if you're providing value people will uh will will take you up on that offer and so we have I think we probably have about 3,000 members something like that of people that that you know some come and go uh there also the only way to get a discount in our store is you become a hex plus member uh they pay a couple $100 a year for that and that helps offset the cost of shipping we generally lose money on X Plus members uh but it's a way for me to get around the um Everybody deserves a discount kind of thing senior citizen discount the First Responders discount the teacher discount the you know the veteran discount the you know the young man discount the young lady discount I mean where do you draw the line um I like all those people um and and you know then everybody gets a discount or lies about a discount account and so instead of discounting down to zero um we've created a a platform for the people who are really bought in to show you know to show our appreciation.

To wrap it up in terms of like you mentioned you you first started doing this YouTube and doing the the garage as a form of therapy what have you learned over the years in terms of what works and what doesn't work and and what kind of advice would you give to other people that kind of see themselves in the same kind of thought process as you?

Uh after I first first started selling the first products uh which was the pressure washer package the kenler pressure washer package I I I thought I was on to something um I thought it was a way for me to sort of enhance my career I thought putting myself out there on YouTube was a way for me to get clients in wealth management uh when you know eventually it was the opposite I should be you know this is what I'm born to do wealth management was a job this is what I'm what I'm I'm what I should be doing So eventually I figured that out but the the garage I've realized is the anchor of my obsession right so I love the garage cars go in it lighting illuminates it the cabinets are where things get stored in the garage the flooring is what makes the floor look nice um the the tools and the detailing stuff detailing happens in the garage I enter my house through the garage I exit my house through the garage the garage is the anchor it's my happy place we talked about that earlier uh and so I think that the the you know the the connection that other people have to this is the garage or some form or one of those things in the garage is the anchor of their Obsession you'd mention that word hobby I think to me hobby is lazy you know it's it's a it's an improper word for an obsessed person right uh it hobby is almost a it's like a borderline insult to the level that most of us obsessed type people tend to go uh and so having and using terms like that I know it's all semantics but it doesn't explain this passion you know the passion for for what we have shoot I just realized here recently that um I don't get to take the obsession like like pull it off my shoulders and hang it up in the garage when I walk into the house so I realized that man I love home theater I'm obsessed with faucets with sinks with appliances with Lighting in the house with my desk with my computer with my speakers in my desk with my turntable I'm obsessed with many different things but it all comes back to the garage you know to me my house is just attached to it right um I have to live in the house house I actually spend more time in the house than I do in the garage but I'm I don't get to just leave the obsession behind it comes with me and it comes with me when I go to the grocery store I return my cart and I generally bring back 10 carts with me it it it goes with me when I go into my office and uh and by the you the sort of the the the what we're portraying or putting out into the world people it's the same way with my camera it's the same way with if I'm drinking water you know I I I I take that Obsession everywhere I go what what's the best water to drink what water do I appreciate the most as right now it's a Mountain Valley Spring water at the moment uh and so chasing those things is what helps keep me in the happy place and occupy the brain that is rather flawed uh and the biggest Epiphany in my life was recognizing these things the garage is the anchor I am deeply flawed and humbled every day by those flaws but if I can figure out a way to channel and stay in the happy place that there could be real value provided to the world and so if I can provide anybody any piece of advice is to figure out what that is the sooner you can figure it out hopefully you're 19 you can figure it out or if you're 79 you can figure it if you figure it out then when you figure it out life is great even with deep humbling flaws you know life can be really good and so that's my advice to everyone is to we don't all get to do what we want to do all day long um but uh if you can figure out what you're passionate about if you can realize that the word hobby is an insult I think you can uh you can change the world.

I think there's a negative connotation towards someone who's obsessed in terms of like people always tell you you know calm down or don't be so obsessed or why are you so involved in this and that and the other whereas it's it feels like it's some kind of suppression system where people are trying to say don't be excellent just be normal don't like go too involved into something like you're you're going to get either taken over and just be focused in on that one thing but it's better than the alternative like you said passing out or at least just becoming normal or just being ordinary I guess that's the word. 

Ordinary is I think a curse and um I think equally being obsessed can be a curse as well and figuring out a way you know for the for for the better part

of the early years of my life I viewed it as a superior thing being more organized if you're not you're lazy you know being willing to pursue and work harder if you're not willing to do that you're lazy you're inferior you're not as good uh and then being humbled in 2014 and having to deal with that humbling every day uh I think has part

of the reason why I now have half a million people that are watching me do this you know do this life that I'm doing uh and the more that I can understand that and recognize that uh I really need others in this world um I can take the obsession take eye out of it and make it more of a we and the more that you can do that I think the more you know benefit we can all get from pursuing chasing passion it's hard to take the eye out man if I W if I watched videos of this video I probably used the word I a thousand times you know it's a difficult thing to remove from your vernacular and then your intentions in the world yeah for sure and like you said like you've built this following and obviously you're doing something right you know there's a lot of people that try to do what you do and it doesn't work for whatever reason you know they are conceited or they do have a superior complex or I get a lot of push back on that because I just say what is so and I'm getting better at it you know like I'm I'm attempting to learn how to say I less you know it's hard to do that when uh I'm just not like my interpersonal ability is not so great unless you get me talking about two things a product or thing that I'm interested in or myself uh right I'm really I've gotten really good at telling my story because so many people have had me tell my story over and over again so if but if I'm at like a dinner party and we're just hanging out with a bunch of regular ordinary people gosh I don't I'm I'm like a you know I'm just in the corner by myself just feeling uncomfortable like I want to get out of here but if you took somebody in that room ask me about the bucket package and let me go I will I will own that whole Space you know I will work that whole room I will have everybody signed up purchasing it understanding it believing in it by the end of it uh and so to the average ordinary person that can come across wrong right yeah it can come across really wrong when I said look your buckets suck these buckets are great that to to some people that immediately shuts them down you know instead of I've learned how to not say your buckets suck but still say it sucks in so many in a much more um a much better tone yeah so I'm trying to learn how to do that that's that's a hard thing to do.