A Little Irish Charm | Ft. Rachel Murray |

Today's episode, we have Rachel Murray from UK who is a Freelance Refinisher & the Owner of  "Paint by Rach".

Rachel is a successful and passionate young woman in the Automotive Collision Repair Industry all because she crashed her dad’s car when she was 17 -- three and a half weeks after Rachel passed her driving test, Rachel crashed her car. Something that at 17 years old Rachel thought “her life is over” since it was her dad’s car.

  
Initially Rachel was planning on going down the route of becoming a Motorsport Mechanic, but Rachel was finding it rather difficult to gain experience and get her foot in the door - She took the opportunity to ask Killaughey Road Commercial Repairs (who took the car in to be repaired) if Rachel could brush the floor to get some workshop experience. On her first day Rachel was given a suction fed spray gun and shown how to paint on a set of Massey Ferguson wheels. 

Rachel had a newfound love of painting, she quit her ideas of working as a Motorsport Mechanic, enrolled in Riverpark Training and gained a vital placement in Charles Hurst Accident Repair Centre. Rachel worked hard and completed both her level 2 and 3 qualifications in vehicle refinishing. 

In 2019, Rachel took a leap of faith and went self-employed and have since gained quality contracts with Elite Refinish, Suitor Autofix and CRASH Services. In 2021, Rachel became an Ambassador for School of Thought (Automotive). 

Along the way Rachel been presented with various awards such as Bodyshop Magazine Paint Technician of the year 2021, Bodyshop Magazine 30 under 30: Rising Stars in 2020, Thatcham Paint Apprentice of the year Finalist in 2017, 2nd and 3rd Northern Ireland Paint Apprentice in 2017 and 2018.
 

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Transcript

 This is the Autobody podcast presented by Clarity Coat. We'll get stories and talk to people from all over the industry, painters, body guys, manufacturers, and dead body in between. Let's do it. Welcome to the Autobody Podcast. Autobody podcast, presented by Clarity Coat. Now, here's your host, Adam Huber.

Hey everyone. Welcome back to the podcast, and I'm gonna say it right now. This is the epitome episode of the year for me. That's not like, I know it's super early in the season, but I don't care. We have Rachel Maria, and she is from Ireland. And for you guys that don't know, I am a third Irish. So Rachel, how you doing today?

I'm not too bad. How are you? I'm so good. . I li literally could not be better. . . Um, I was just telling Rachel before we hopped on that, I actually have a Celtic Knot tattoo on my shoulder, my left shoulder. So like it's, I I going to Ireland is probably one of my, um, bucket list items. Uh, I know it's not Ireland, but aisle of man, uh, to go see the Yeah.

Sport bike races, like that's top tier. Yeah. Thet three. Uh, you could just bury me right in that road and I'd be good to go. , . Uh, so Rachel, how are, uh, kind of tell us a little bit about like what younger you was like, or actually, you know what, let's, let's, let's not do that right now. Let's actually ask, um, so you're in Ireland, but where exactly in Ireland are you?

And then what are you doing right now? Yes. So, um, I'm in Belfast, um, in the north of Ireland. And, um, . I'm a freelance car spray painter, so, um, I technically turn myself as a freelance paint sprayer because I don't just paint cars. Like I've done superos, I've done, uh, race cars, um, Laurie's trucks, buses, everything.

So, um, I, if it, if it sits still long enough, I'll paint it. . It's kinda the way I work. . Uh, so, and you're using traditional painting equipment for that, or have you kind of ventured into like, um, like spray paint, like aerosol paints and stuff like that? Um, everything. So we do a lot of, um, custom, uh, mountain bikes and stuff.

Yep. Um, for all the championships and the old time, we would do, we would maybe use our souls to get a desired effect or we use airbrushing or, um, like stencil work sponges, you know, anything that, that makes the sort of effect that you need. Nice. That's awesome. Um, okay, so before we go too much down that road, because I'm so stoked to just like talk about all of this , but, um, talk to me about like, what is young Rachel?

Like, what, how did she grow up? Was her dad just like a car nut? Like how, how did you get into this crazy world? So nobody in my family likes colors. . So the episode that just came out today, I'm sorry to interrupt, but the episode that just came out today, um, Mike Monahan, it's from England. Um, where at? In England.

I don't know, but yeah, I, I forgot. Oh, you've worked with him? Oh, man. Okay. Well see, see, see, now you're just propagating the idea that it's so tiny over there that everyone just knows everyone else . Um, but it's so funny because he, he said the exact same thing. He said that his parents, um, didn't own a car until like, I don't know, he was a teenager or something like that.

And I was like, how does, how does that even work? Like you couldn't even do that over here. Okay, so none, no one in your family has a car. Nuts. So then how did you get get to enjoy cars? I, I, I, I actually don't even know how it, like actually sorted. I think my, my dad liked rally cars. Um, so, you know, whenever I was younger he would've took me down to the rally stages and, um, would've watched it.

And I always wanted to sort of work on cars. And then I went to like a posh grammar school and I done my levels, all my qualifications, and they wanted me to go to university. So I was kind of being pushed down that route. And basically what happened was, um, I passed my driving test on the 12th of January, 2016.

Okay. And I crashed my dad's car . What car was it on the, it was a Ciran Sea one . I have no idea what that is. I mean, I know what Ciran is, but I don't know what Sea One. It was tiny. It was tiny. Um, he, he don gritted to that so that I could use it whenever I was 17. And, um, yeah, I crashed my dad's car three and a half weeks after I passed my drive-in test.

Do you at least have like a cool story behind it? Like were you racing someone or was it just, I mean, I, I really thought I was Cam block  and a front wheel to drive one later in  . Um, I mean, that's not that bad. Yeah. I had, uh, uh, do you, you guys have Mazdas over there, right? Okay. Yes. Um, so this was, uh, you're, I'm assuming you're a little bit younger than I am.

I'm 33. Uh, you don't need to say anything, pass that if you don't want to, but, um, , um, I had a Mazda 3 23 and um, it's like, think of like a Ford Escort. Hatchback. Yeah. But it had like a 1.8 liter in line four, and that was the funnest car ever because I just, you, it didn't matter what you did, you always got 30 miles to the gallon and you could just beat the everliving piss out of that thing and it would just take it.

Um, so I I, I totally understand. I mean, one point leader, uh, a one Oh, that's, that's pretty small. But I mean, small cars are fun, man. Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, I, I just completely ran out of town on my own in a car park, my , and I wrecked it, like I wrecked it. And um, basically at that point I gone, I don't want to go to university.

I really want to work on, uh, I really wanted to work on cars and I'd enrolled in a college course to do rally sport mechanics. And no matter what I did, I couldn't get work experience in like a garage. No matter what, like no matter where I went, everyone was like, no, we're not interested. Like, we don't really want, we don't want you by whatever.

So whenever crashed the car, the guys affixed it, the body shop. Um, so cuz I'd decided not to do, um, uni then I had like dropped down on one of my subjects and I had a day off awake. So I basically went in, in my school uniform, which was a skirt down past my knee and with a box of beer and a box of chocolates,

And I was like, I just need work experience. Like, can, can I brush your floors? Like I don't care what it is. Like I just need to say that I've been in a garage and I'm actually interested. And luckily enough they were so supportive. Um, so it was a, it was a place called K R cer and it was a, um, a father and son run body shop.

And, uh, the dad, uh, Ricky, he literally just took me under his wing. So on the first day he had me painting like a set of tra or tractor wheels.  and there's a photo of me and the waiters are bigger than me, , and I'm holding like an old style suction fed spray gun and I'm holding the bottom of it thinking it's gonna fall off.

And um, yeah, that's basically how it started. So then I, I dropped the rally sport mechanics and I just went for paint painting and I ended up, I got my apprenticeship in one of the main like dealerships in Northern Ireland. And, um, yeah, I got qualified there and then started my own business in 2018. Nice.

That's awesome. So, yeah. Okay. So first of all, the fact that there, that you can go to some sort of school for rally sport mechanics sounds badass, like . That's so, that's so cool. Yeah. I'm not sure if there's, I'm sure there is a school that you could go and do that in, um, north America somewhere, but I've certainly never heard of it.

So. Is the whole idea behind that, like learning how to do like just everything with a rally car suspension, um, drive, train and all that. Yeah. Yeah. And it was to do with, um, like manufacturing roll cages and all the safety aspects of it and, and all that kind of thing. I kind of wish I'd done it, to be honest, as in just to get, just to understand it a bit more because my, my background isn't mechanical.

I, like, I would maybe try my own car, my own van, but I'm not, I'm not mechanic. Um, so yeah, I, I probably wish I did do it just for the fact of doing it, but I'm glad that I'm getting Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, we're glad that you're painting too because , it's awesome to have, it's awesome to have you here. So the.

Man, I'm just trying to imagine a school girl uniform with beer and chocolates like that. . I mean, I don't, every single tech guy listening to this right now is like, fuck yes. Like  sign me up. So do you think that the problems that you have, because there's a lot of kids e even in the US, that they walk into a shop, they say, I just want work experience or whatever, and they're gonna have a hard time getting it.

Um, whether it's male, female, whatever. So do you think that the main problem that you ran into was because you were a female trying to show interest in doing this? Or was it just because of age or what, what's your thoughts? I think it was a mixture of both. I think, um, because I was in, cuz I was in a grammar school and pretty much everyone that went to a grammar school went dna.

I think people just, whenever I went into the, the body shop or into the workshops, they were kind of like,  or you're wasted in the trade, like, you should be going to uni, you should be going to do something like, I don't know, medicine or something. Um, so they didn't really take me seriously. Um, and even like the guys that took me on, like they all had bets in the whole, um, in the whole yard and how long I was gonna last and I mean seven years old and I'm , I'm still there.

But, um, yeah, I'm not, I'm not sure that there was, I've only had maybe two or three workshops not want me because I'm a girl and specifically sort of said that, but I, I genuinely think a lot of it was down to age and whether they thought I was actually interested or I just wanted to say, I've done that, you know, like a tech box.

Yep. What, so I, I think it's more that, so you, this is you around 18 years old that you're going to do these shops? 17, yeah. 17. Yeah. That'd be, I mean, I, I can imagine most shops here, if they, if they saw any 17 year old. You know, you have a lot of guys that are out there that always say like, oh, I, I'd take a kid if he walked in and said, do you want to, but would you actually like, you know?

Yeah. Like, because it, it's, it's just a whole nother thing where you have someone that you're taking them under your wink and then you have to have that responsibility to like teach them, grow them and everything like that. Like a lot of people don't want that responsibility. But I'm glad that you did find someone that did wanna take on that responsibility because it seems like you're killing it now.

So  like good on them for doing that. Um, so your first couple of jobs, I'm guessing, I'm guessing your first couple of months probably was just like them giving you kind of like the shittier jobs to be like, okay, is she actually sticking around or like, what, what was the first couple of months? Honestly, not even really, like, they were throwing stuff at me.

Like, um, honestly, they, they were amazing. Um, Completely amazing. Um, I remember Ricky coming in the work one day and he handed me a set of keys and I was like, like, do you want me to bring it into the workshop or, or what's happening? And he goes, no, I got you a car. And I was like, what? And he goes, I got you a car for the field so you don't wreck it on the road , so you don't wreck your own car on the road again.

So he'd, he'd bought it and the um, the wings was stove in and I was like, oh, but it's all damaged. And he was like, fix it. Like learn how to fix it. So then, uh, a panel bided it out. Um, a metal finished it and then painted it. And that was the first proper vehicle bit that I painted. Um, so like, they, they threw everything at me at the start cuz they wanted to say, I think it was to say if I would stick at it was, well give her all the really hard stuff and you like sand and paint off things that, you know, maybe took me four hours to constantly sanding.

Thinking that I was gonna give up on her, but I loved it, . So I just, I just kept going, man, what an incredible way to, um, in someone in your position, like, I truly cannot think of a better way to, one, see how serious someone is. And then number two, to show them, there's something that I've realized about this industry, um, Rachel, and I think this goes for most service-based industries, but there is a, there is a thing that clicks inside of you when, when you fix something and you get to look at it and say, yeah, I fixed that.

And yeah, it almost doubles when you get to say, that's mine and I fixed it. What an incredible way for someone to see if you had that spark or not, is to give you something that's broken and say, Hey, you need to, if you want it to be nice, you gotta fix it. And then what a great test. What a phenomenal test.

Um, One of the things, I don't think I've ever talked about this on a show, so like this will be a first time, but I usually repeat stories a lot. So , . But I used to get asked all the time how I interviewed, um, guys that were gonna come onto my detailing team. And so I used to be a car or used to own a car detailing business.

And I did it kind, I don't, I didn't think it was unconventional, but apparently this is very unconventional. So it would basically be two or three meetings. First meeting was, I just wanted to sit down and talk with them and get a, and see if I could get a good vibe from 'em, right? Because you're gonna have to be there with that person every single day.

You want to know if they're gonna be fun to be around. Right. Um, you don't want to stick in the mud. Yeah. And then so after that, then I would tell them that they have another interview, which is a paid interview. And then when they would show up, I would put an hour on the clock.  and I would say, I'm not gonna give you any instructions.

I'm not going to tell you how to do anything. You have to detail this part of the car. You need to do this part of the detail with and do as much as you can in an hour. And I just wanna see what happens. Now. The whole point of that was not to see if they could get it done in an hour, or the whole point of it was not to see how good they did it.

The whole point of it was, I knew they were gonna miss things and I knew they were gonna have to figure some things out. I wanted to see if they could do that. So when I would go and inspect their work, I would, I would very calmly say like, oh, hey, I noticed that uh, this spot wasn't done. Did you miss it?

Or like, what happened there? And depending on how their answer was determined on whether or not I hired them. So what I mean by that is if they responded back with, oh, well, you know, you just kind of threw me to the wolves and you didn't teach me anything. And like, You know, how could you expect me to do a good job?

I was like, Hmm. I don't know if I necessarily want that person. Right. Because that's, yeah. I don't want someone who's defensive about, um, trying something and then not being, not being, um, adequate at it. Right. Or understanding that there's a learning process to everything. What I looked for is for the person to say, Hey, you know what?

You're right. Like, I was concentrating on the time and like I got in a hurry and I just happened to miss it. Like, you know, how would you, how would you fix that? Well, boom, that's a teachable person. Right. You can, I can teach that person how to do anything because car detailing just like a lot of service.

Mm. I don't know if I could say this with car painting, but it's very process oriented. It's very like, you just do this and then you do this, and then you do this, and then you do this and then blah, blah, blah. Right? Yeah. Anyways, and then the third interview is basically, I would narrow it down to like two people and then I would sit down and ask them like, what do you want outta this job?

And if they told me that they wanted to detail for the rest of their lives, I was like, but do you though, like, come on, let's be real. Like this is a five year career. Yeah. And then I would tell them like, you tell me what you want after this and I am going to do everything in my power to build you up so that you have that thing so that when you leave here, you're a better person.

Like, I know you're gonna leave. Let's be, let's be real with each other. You are. So anyways, and that's how I used to do it. So when you tell me that some that your owner or whoever, what manager got a busted up car because you needed one and then said here like, you can have this, but if you want it to be good, you need to fix it.

May I just get so excited? I'm like, that's that. Is that right? There is a great way to. Start someone off in this, like, I don't know, do you have any comments or I ideas? Yeah. He was literally amazing. Like I, I, I couldn't have had a better start. Uh, cuz it was, it was so inspiring as well over the fact that because he was so passionate about the work as well, it just, it just made me want to be like that.

Yeah. And you know, I spent the past seven years, you know, every, every time I do something, I'm like, oh, like, you know, would he, would he have liked that? Would he had been proud of me doing this or that? And, you know, from that I ended up as well again, like a, a life mentor out of it as well. Like, he used to refer to me as his adopted granddaughter and like that's how I, that that's how I ended up, you know,

Um, so it, it was, it was amazing. I physically could not have asked for a better, a better start. That's, that's so phenomenal. Um. Did. So when you actually did attempt your repairs and everything like that, did you, did he come over and look at it and say, okay, well here's how you could have done this better?

Or did he kind of just let you sit and simmer on it for a little bit?

Well, I, um, I'm very, I'm, I'm a very questionable person. Like, I, I don't like, I don't really like to get things wrong, but, um, I'll ask stupid questions 400 times. Just try and stop that. Obviously if, if you can't do it, you can't do it. Um, so I kept stopping him and being like, what about this, what about this, what I do here?

And he was like, look, do you know what you need to do? Just take stuff apart. Hit it with a hammer. If it works, great. If it doesn't work out why it didn't work. And then, and then go for it. He says, then come to me and explain it to.  as in why did you choose to do it this way? And then he can help me understand better rather than me getting it perfect the first time and not learning anything from it.

Because if you get it perfect the first time, it get's not gonna happen in real life. Yeah. Yeah. That's, man, that's phenomenal. So yeah. That is so good. Um, yeah. What, uh, so did you, were you getting paid to do this or is it just minimum wage that you were getting paid? No, it was unpaid. It was unpaid. That's great.

That's so good. Um, at what point did, was there a moment in time where you were doing the work and you were like, this is, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Like, I just can't imagine doing anything else? Literally the first day, , it was the 24th of March, 2016.  and I, I picked up a spray gun for the first time and I went, this is just the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life.

that's phenomenal and I wanna do it . That's phenomenal. Um, so at what point did they take you on? Yeah, as, um, like a paid employee then? They never did. Oh, I, I just done one day week from, um, March until I left school in September. And then, um, I had to get an apprenticeship, which would be a paid role. So we'd done, um, five weeks in your, uh, in your work, in, in your working environment.

And then one week in college. So, um, they didn't have the, didn't really have the facilities to take me on, so, um, they helped me get into, um, the main dealership in Belfast. Um, and then I, I went there, um, paid, but like up until they closed, um, I, I'd help them out weekends or whatever.  whenever needed. That's awesome.

What, uh, what was the car dealership like? What brand? Uh, it was, uh, it's lookers in the uk, but um, over here it's Charles Hurst, so they do like everything. So we done all the, the specialist vehicles as well. So we done Ferrari, Aston Martin, Bentley, um, Marati, all of them. And then you have all the main like, um, car brands.

So the only one we didn't have was, we didn't have Volkswagen and b bmw, but pretty much everything else we have, so That's interesting. So is, is it pretty typical for you guys' dealerships to offer a huge range of, um, OEMs like that? Yeah. So you would have like a main sort of over brand, like, you know, like a, an umbrella and then they would have like different branches.

So they would have like Charles Hurst, Nissan, Charles Hurst, Toyota.  and then, you know, stood it that way. But the, the body shop, because it was the main one, um, we'd done everything. Holy cow. You guys must have been busy . Yeah, we were really busy. Ah, how big of a facility did you guys have?

I'm not sure the exact size, but there was, I think there was 37 on the floor. 37 staff on the floor. Geez. And it was split into four, um, four sections. So there was mechanical, uh, down one end, and then there was, um, like strip of fit, m e t, and then there was paintin and then there was, um, metalwork. And that was all under one board.

And then there was, um, yeah, and there was two, two big sprayers and one smaller spray booth. Wow. So the smaller spray booth, I'm guessing you guys are just doing like bumpers and like real quick, um, jobs like, Yeah, we, we mainly used it for like primer work and then, um, cuz then we didn't really, um, clean it as much and then used it for like, the likes of primer And then, um, the, the main two spray boosts down, kept down quite clean and put, you know, your BA and clear throat.

Yeah, yeah. Um, so your guys' mechanical was trained on all the different OEMs as well, like Ferrari, Jaguar and all that kind of stuff? Yeah. You, you would get ones that would like specialize. You, you'd very have somebody who'd done, um, Ferrari and Bentley and they'd done specific training on it and they would be like, as well as being standard mechanic for the other ones, they would be, you know, specialized, lead, trained in whatever else.

That's crazy because, so over here we, we could have a similar setup where, um, well I'll just say, so we have a local dealership called Billion, right. But you have billion Chevy, billion Toyota, billion Ford, you know, whatever. Right. Uh, but they're all separate buildings. Yeah. And they all have their own mechanic base in there.

And some of them have their own dedicated body shop as well, but not, not too many. But, so it's, it's crazy to me to think that there are facilities out there that would house all the mechanics for all the OEMs that they service all in one building. Well, they would have, for each specific dealership, they would have a specific mechanic for that.

Oh, okay. And then as an in the body shop, it was like a mechanical for the body shop, if you get Right. Gotcha. Okay. Got it. Got it, got it. Yep. Something came in and it needed like, you know, suspension work and jig work, then the mechanic would, would do that bit. Yeah. Okay. That makes, that makes more sense now.

Sorry, I do, I didn't, I didn't catch that part. . Yeah, sorry, . Um, okay, so you're, you go to this, uh, dealership, are you still at that dealership now or? No, no. Um, I left in, uh, 2018. 2018 to start your own business. That's, yeah. That's awesome. That's, so just entrepreneurship, like you, so, I mean, you, you've owned your own business now for, uh, it'd be five years.

So what was that first step like? Like how, what, what, what series of events happened to where you were like, oh yeah, I can go and do this myself.

Um, , well, I actually thought I was way better than I, I was at the time, , um, . I basically, I, I came out, um, once I finished my qualification, so, um, my college wanted me to do world skills and do all this competition work. And, um, I only got UK level, um, which is still good. Like, I'm not, I'm not taken away from it, but, , I then decided that I was just, I didn't get it cause I was too good or whatever, and I just went, I'm, I'm too good for anywhere, so I'm gonna work for myself

And then I very, very, very quickly learned that I wasn't. Um, so then basically what happened was because, um, everyone was really supportive of me whenever I was doing my apprenticeship, which is amazing. But they were almost scared to tell me that I'd done something wrong in case they put me off. Um, but in doing that, I never learned the basics.

So I was running before I could walk. Mm-hmm. . So whenever I went self-employed, I basically had to reteach myself how to do everything. Um, so I was contracted out to two businesses. So because I'm freelance, um, I work about different body shops or different sites or, you know, people phone me and go, I don't know, like one of them, I painted a 63.4 meter super yacht in Italy.

Um, which was really random, but cuz I worked that way, my first two contracts, um, unfortunately had to basically reteach me mm-hmm. . So I ended up thinking, I'll, I'll leave being employed to be self-employed and make loads of money, and then ended up having to drop down nearly half my wage just so that I could learn.

Um, which was really hard, but it paid off. So is this something that it's, uh, is fairly common in, um, Ireland then for you to be a freelance, um, painter?

Uh, no, I don't know. Any others? Nice at all? I was gonna say, I, I don't, yeah, well, I, I know a couple, I know a couple that do it in like commercial work as in, you know, like, um, I know a guy that does it, um, for like, you know, like tankers and, um, , like big cement mix and stuff and all, which is really cool. Um, but that's, I've seen it quite a bit in commercial, but not in cars.

Yeah. Uh, you're the first person that I've actually ever heard that, um, does something like that. So how did that process come about that, did these companies like approach you and say like, Hey, you know, if you wanted to make a little money on the side, on weekends, like, we don't have a painter, we don't wanna hire one, like, we'll pay you to come in and do the work.

Like, how did that process happen?

Um, I kind of, at the start, um, it was because I wanted to, I didn't wanna stay in one place. That's what I didn't really like about being employed, because if you stay in one place, you can only ever be as good as the people around you and you don't get to learn other different things because you only know what's around you.

Um, so I knew I couldn't work, I couldn't be employed in two places at once, so, um, I just decided I'll go self-employed, don't work out, and then. . Once I started doing that, then it kind of, I started doing social media and LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, the whole lot. And then it just ended up that people just started contacting me and being like, you know, even if they wanted to do, say like a, like a social media package on it and going, you know, we really, really want to promote the work that we do, but can we get you in to do a certain job and we'll do, you know, videos on it and do like a, like a marketing type thing with it as well.

So it's kind of evolved into that now. Wow. Um, which is pretty cool. That is really cool. Yeah. Um, yeah. So this, this running before walking where, you know, you, you, you were way ahead of yourself. Yeah. And you didn't know the basics. Can you just kind of like, describe some of the things that you didn't, hadn't, hadn't quite learned, and then, , you know, you get out on your own, you're, and then you're standing there and you have to do something or you do, don't do something quite right.

And the person that you're contracting was like, what the fuck? What are you, what are you doing? ? Like, actually I could think very specific. Please do tell . Um, so there was a, a rattled Cleo, uh, and it was n n p, it was rouge flame, which is a, um, a three stage tinted clear coat. And basically if you don't know what you're doing, that is the one color that is gonna pick, it's gonna pick the good painters out from the bad painters.

And I was told before the do, before I done it, you know, paint the, of the panels, if it's a new panel on it, paint the box of the panels, fit it to the car and paint it on the car. And I didn't do it, I just went, nah, I know how to paint. I'll, I'll, I'll just, you know, take, if it was new wing, it was new wing, blend door, blend bonnet, blend bumper.

Um, I said, no, I'm not painting it on the car. So I just took it off and, um, painted the wing as if it was a standard like metallic. And whenever we fitted the wing, it matched at the top. But because I sped up coming down at the bottom, it was like pink instead of red on the bottom. So then I had to stay obviously as well, being self-employed, I have to stay and fix that in my time and I'm not getting paid for that

So, um, I very quickly learned that, um, I wasn't as good of a spray gun as I once thought I was. That's, that's so great. Like, man, I'm so excited right now. I, I, I don't know if I should be this excited, but like, it's so rare that one, how many people out there are in your position where you're, uh, a freelance painter?

First of all, number two from Ireland. And I'm gonna put a heavy emphasis on how badass that is, just because I'm biased and I can do that to my podcast. And number three, like, you're, you're an entrepreneur, which I am. Like, I can't think of a better quad or trifecta going on here. Like, it's just like, I, I just can't think of a better episode Out of all the, all the ones that I've done right now,

Um, okay, so the, you obviously have to sand that back down. Reshoot it and what was that like? Eating? We have a saying called eating crow. I don't know if you have the same saying in Ireland, but you basically have to go back to the person that you were like, nah, I got this. I know how to run a paint gun and then fit it on the car.

And then that person comes over and goes, oh, you know how to run a paint gun, huh? So why, why is that not match? And then you had to like, again, we call it eating crow. I don't know why we call it eating crow, but. You must have taken that pretty well in stride though. You must have been like, okay. You know what?

I, maybe I, no, I didn't. You didn't . No, I didn't. You threw a fit. Did you blame the paint gun ? No, I didn't blame anybody else. I was annoyed at myself, but, um, I def I didn't take it. I didn't take a while. , I think I actually had to go home and then come in the next day because there's been too many times, you know, you get yourself a, a ti about it and then you just make it 10 times worse.

Yep. And you just keep making a mistake after a mistake. So I just went, you know what? I'm gotta go home, gonna go to sleep, I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna fix it in the morning. You know? You know what's so great about that, Rachel? Is that there are a lot of people out there, a lot of people that would've gone, oh, well it's obviously the paint, like.

It's clearly the paint. . No, that could have been the most expensive paint in the world and I still would've done the same thing. . Hey guys. Adam from the podcast. I hope you are enjoying today's episode. Just wanted to ask you a quick favor. If the show has brought you value in some way, would you mind giving us a review and sharing the show?

It really helps the show get out there. Also, if you are looking to expand the services that your shop offers and you want to do more than collision work, you should really check out our company Clarity Coat. Clarity Coat is a peelable paint that allows body shops to offer color changes cheaper than a repaint, while still looking like real paint.

You can also offer clear protection that has no edges and is sprayed instead of laid. Unlike vinyl and ppf Clarity Coat can be sanded and polished so you can give your customer the exact look that they are wanting. If you are looking to expand your shop services, go to clarity Coat.com and fill out our Become an Installer form.

Alright, let's get back to the show. You then had to. Make half of what you did to kind of learn from these contractors on how to do some of these basics correctly. Can you kind of like walk us through what you mean by that or what some of the, some, some examples if you can? So, um, I basically had the half my wage because in my head I went, if I'm, if I'm charging the full rate, they're gonna want somebody that they don't have to be anywhere near and they can just say, look, you know, here's a job, do it.

Start to finish. So, because I needed them to be on the same job as me, cuz as well, I wanted to learn how to weld and I wanted to do metal work more and like kind of expand my skills rather than just being solely a painter. Cause that's what I was, um, so to learn that I needed their time. So the only way I could sell that to them was.

you've got a full, fully qualified painter so I can do your paint work without you being here and that's saving you time. But in your, you know, spare times over lunch and stuff, can you teach me how to weld, how to do panel work or whatever. Um, so that was the only way I, I could get that. Um, and it, it was, it was good, but it was kind of annoying at the same time because, you know, all my friends were, you know, employed and had however amount of money coming in every month.

And I had half of that. But then, you know, now I can, I can do what I want, I can, um, I can do all of the jobs from start to finish quite comfortably. I don't need people around me, whereas they're still doing the same job. Mm-hmm. . So, I mean, sometimes you have to take a step back to take a step forward. Um, and I definitely had to do that then.

And I needed the, I needed sort of the wake up call because I. I was just 19 and full of it, you know, , everybody gets it. Um, okay. So you, you take on these jobs to learn how to do other parts of the trade welding, metal fabricating, uh, well, metal fabricating or just metal work, like learning how to work with the panels and stuff.

Yeah, more metal work, like trying to take dance out without filler and all that kind of stuff. Kinda, kinda it. Um, so how long are you learning how, I mean, I'm sure you're still learning these things at this point in time, but Yeah. Um, how long is it before you're comp com confidently taking on metalwork and paint work and, uh, sorry, not paint work, um, metalwork to where you're confident that you can do it yourself and you don't need, um, somebody else's help?

Um, I'm not sure. I don't get. . I don't get as much practice as I'd like. Um, so I, I actually, I, I went to do the global, I'd done a course in it in, um, in England. I, I work quite closely with, um, Kek. They've been so supportive of everything that I've done. And, um, whenever I was over, I was working in England at the start of last month and I had a day off and I said to Kevin from Kek, do you mind if I come down and can you teach me a few bits?

Um, so for that, cuz I really want to learn it cuz it's completely different And the way I look at it with like EV vehicles coming in, you know, with this you don't have to down, you don't have to um, par it down or anything. Like, cuz you're not actually welding anything and you're not breaking the paint.

You know, it, it seems easier. Um, so now what I do is if we get, say like a, a dealership car that came in, like a trade car, I maybe say to them, look, maybe there's a dent that's not dying to get done. Do you mind if I have a go at it? I'm not gonna charge you. , it's not gonna look any worse than what it is, but I might get it out, you know, for my sort of practice.

But I don't think I'll ever be, I don't think I'm ever gonna be like a, a dent repair technician, but I am happy enough to take on my own work. Like I, I, I do do quite a lot of, um, you know, work from start to finish. That to me is really cool and interesting in the fact that it's so easy to be, uh, what we call a one trick pony, where you just do the one thing and there's not necessarily anything wrong with that, right?

Where you become so good at that one thing that you're basically world renowned or, um, city renowned, state renowned, whatever it might be, right? So there's not necessarily anything wrong with that, but I think all too often what happens is, People learn how to do something really, really well, and then they never really progress.

They just kind of get to the kind of like what you were saying. Yeah. You're only gonna be as good as your environment, right? Yeah. So if your environment is just a bunch of, for lack of a better, better term, bunch of Mako painters and they're all crap, well, then you're gonna be the best Mako painter there is.

But then you try to go up against someone who really knows how to paint. Then all of a sudden you're gonna be like, ah, shit. I don't really know anything at all. And um, so the fact that it seems like you really enjoy challenging yourself and constantly being like, you know what? Like that looks interesting.

I'm gonna go learn how to do it. Have you always kind of been that open-minded and inquisitive about lots of different things? Or is this just something that, it's this just industry that does it to you? I think it's the industry there. There's a lot of things that I've not, like if you had asked me five years ago to do this, I would've said no.

At Iran. Like I didn't do, and I had being on camera, I headed, um, I headed public speaking, I headed like I was really shy and I just wanted to be on my own. Whereas like I've now done, like, done on stages talking about like the industry and stuff. I do, um, careers talks and skills with kids and showing them, you know, they don't have to go to university, they can get a trade.

Um, and I think it's trade. It's, it's the industry that doesn't, because everybody is so, like, you know what a workshop floor is like, you know, you have to, you have to be . You can't be shy . You have to, you have to be out there to, to fit in. And I, I think it brings it audience. So that's what I always say. Um, whenever I do the skills talks, you know, that you see kids come in and they go, oh no, but I'm, I'm too shy.

Like, I wouldn't be able to do it. And I'm going, I didn't speak to anybody before I, I'd done the trade, like in school. Like you could, if you put me in a a social environment, I would've panicked. . Whereas now, um, I've got used to it. You're, you're great. I think it's a trade that comes out . Um, you know, funnily enough, I was the exact same way.

So when I went from, uh, high school to my tech school in high school, I was a, I was a weird, like just a solo kid. Like I just wanted to be by myself. Um, and then I can still remember this, when I went to college, I was like, you know what? Screw that. I'm not gonna do that anymore. And I just, just said, you know, I'm just gonna be, I'm gonna try and be someone completely different.

And I know this is such a, this is like such a, a movie type thing where like the butterfly gets reborn, blah, blah, blah. And I will say that I did have some people in college that definitely helped me become who I am today. But I can confidently tell you that the people who knew me in high school, Would don't recognize the person that I am now because it is just two completely different people.

Um, and I'm actually, I'm, I'm incredibly proud of that because I don't want to be the person that I was in high school. I am proud of where I am now and I love what I'm doing now. And yeah. But funnily enough, you, so you're talking about going to these colleges and talking to these kids about, you know, going into the industry and everything like that.

There is this joke that I have, which is that there is such a thing that's called entrepreneurship school. Like an entrepre entrepreneurship class that you would take Yeah. At university. And they always ask me to come back every single year. And I have no idea why, because every single. , we started off, I'm like, honestly, if you're in this class, you're probably not gonna make it anyways, because like learning how to be an entrepreneur from a college class, like, come get outta come.

It's, it's just, yeah, it just doesn't work. Like you just don't ha like you don't have it. Right. But that's me being critical of people. But one of the things I always talk to people about, and I'm, I'm gonna talk to you about this, that, that I talked to these kids about in college, and I'll talk to you about this because I feel like you would somewhat understand this, is I always ask them, why do you want to do this?

And there was, I think it was the first year I did this, there was a kid who shouted out loud, I wanna make a bunch of money. And I was like, okay, I'm glad you said that, , let's break this down. I said, for the first two years that I owned my business, I didn't take any money home. It literally just went straight back into the business.

and then we start. So then I kind of start going through this and I say, if by chance, I think at this point there was like 20 kids in this class. I said, statistically speaking, I want you guys to all look around you and realize that in one year 50% of you guys are gonna be gone. There's only gonna be 10 of you left in three years.

There's only, um, 20% of the 10 that are gonna be left. And at five years, there's only gonna be like 10% of those people left. So there's only like one to three people left out of this 20 kid group that are actually gonna own businesses five plus years later. And then I tell them, and by the way, congratulations because you probably have some sort of drug, um, addiction, alcohol addiction, sex addiction.

You're probably divorced like. Congrats. You made it. I was like, so you really gotta fucking wonder why the hell that you're doing this? And yeah. I, I don't know. Do you, do you agree with that sentiment or what's, what's your thoughts on that? I, I complete, it's too difficult to not love it. You can't just do it for money.

Yeah. Like, you can't, because you have to be passionate about what you're doing. Like, I love my, I eat, sleep and breathe my job. I love it. I love cars. I love paint. Like even if I'm not in work, like if I'm out with friends and we're like out somewhere, I'm looking at a car and I'm going, did you know that that's a three staged  like paint system or not

And everyone's like, I don't care. But cause I, cause I love it. Like if it doesn't work and I don't make money to something, I'm not that annoyed about it. I'm like, I'll get it in the long run. But, and you have to be like that because you win some and you lose some. And if you're constantly looking at the money you give up.

I'd have given up years ago. Yeah, a hundred percent. , I don't think I'd even got through my first year. So I'm kind of curious, you said that you are doing a lot, but like you're doing TikTok and like social media and everything like that. What's kind of the, what's the stuff that you're posting on there?

Is it just your jobs that you're doing that day and and, and everything like that? Yeah, pretty much. Um, so what I'm trying to focus a lot of my time on now is I kind of wanna promote the industry as an actual career choice, because I'm not sure what it's like with you, but over here, like the trades really look down upon, like, I remember going to like friends' houses and their parents going, what do you do?

And I'm like, oh, I work on cars. And they're like, all right. And that's it. You know, there's no, there's no interest in it. And they, they don't look at it as an actual career. They look at it. If you can't do anything else, just go and fix cars. I'm not, it's not what it is. And I've got so much outta the trade, like I've got so much outta the industry.

I have met all these amazing people I've been to. I've been to Red Bull, f1, which was so cool. I went to their headquarters with Melting Kings, and it was actually probably the best day of my life.  , like honestly, um, I've, I, I've met all these amazing people. I've gone to all these amazing countries. Like I've, I've spoke on stage in Monaco, which is mental.

I've done a, a road trip for charity. Um, me and a, a girl mechanic, uh, from Birmingham. Um, we got, um, a 1993 Rover, um, 216 Cabala and . We had 750 pound buy it, and we had the, so IP ended it, she fixed it, and we drove it from England to Monaco and back.  and it made it Wow. Until about a hundred yards from her house.

And the, and the CV joint went . There was no drive. So we had to push it at like two o'clock in the morning.  what, uh, roughly, how far of a distance is it from, um, from where you're at to Monaco? It was just short. 2000 miles. 2000 miles. Okay. And we'd done it in four days. Three, three days, four days. Wow. Okay.

Um, and there was a whole group of us doing it, cause we did it for charity and it was amazing. And I've got that from starting an apprenticeship, painting cars. And, you know, kids don't see that. They just say off, you do an apprenticeship painting cars, that's what you're gonna do for the rest of your life.

Whereas the skills are so transferrable and there's so many other careers that then pop up at the end of it. So now my social media is now based around that. I'm showing what I'm doing, the places I'm getting to go, the the things I'm getting to do so that I can go, then go into schools and go look, have a look at my Facebook, look at my Instagram, go onto TikTok, and you can see that it's not just painting cars, it's everything.

That's so incredible, so awesome. Um, and to answer your question as a whole, the service-based industries are looked down upon here. Yeah. Right. Um, you, this is starting to come around now, and I am so happy that it is because I have been saying for years that the service based industries, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, whatever it might be, you're going to run out of people.

And when you run out of people, that means that the demand for. You or us gets higher and when the demand for us gets higher, we get to go around and say, well, I want more money now. And over here there is plenty of mechanics, painters and stuff like that, making over six figures a year. Easy, no problem whatsoever.

Right? Well, the only way that, that, um, business can sustain paying those people that wage is by increasing their wages. And then what happens is, is some politician has to get his house rewired and then nearly dies from a heart attack when he gets a bill for 25 grand and then says, what do you, how? And then they finally figure out, oh, it's because there's not enough kids going to school.

And then that's when the whole process changes, right? That's when the whole narrative changes about, um, trade schools and everything like that. Now, do you guys have, um, shop class over there? So in. Grade school. Do you have a class where you go to learn about mechanics and everything like that? So that used to be a really big thing over here, right?

You'd go to wood woodworking class. So you'd learn, start to learn how to do carpentry. Uh, yeah, you used to have mechanic class and everything like that, and pretty much almost all schools got rid of that because it was too expensive. Well, now they're starting to realize like, oh shit, actually , you know, this isn't a bad idea to have because we need these people.

We need to have these kids going to tech schools and learning how to do these things because this is an essential part of our economy and our, um, our infrastructures to have people that want to do these things. Um, so it is turning around here. Do you A personal hero of mine is, um, uh, Mike Roe. Do you, are you aware of Mike Roe?

Oh no. You're gonna love Mike Row. Look up Mike Roe. Dirty Jobs and. Rachel, you, you're gonna have days of just the best content you could ever watch. Okay. Um, I'll, I'll send it to you, uh, when we're done with this. Um, but Mike in the US is literally plowing forward grants, scholarships, and all these things just for service-based businesses.

And that's like, or service-based industries. Like kid wants to go to electrical school, cool. I'll pay for you to go to school and your way and everything like that. Like he is literally plowing that whole field forward. And as well, there are, I've interviewed a couple of different people on this podcast that get kids, get grants to go to, um, tech schools and get that done for free.

Brandon Eken, Rodd, um, I forget the industry, or sorry, the body that he represents. That's what they do. We had, um, another gal that was right around the same age as you on who. She went to tech school for body, um, to be a painter, and they literally wrote off all of her school, school student loan debt. So I, and I'm not sure how this works over in Ireland, but um, she was going to graduate college with, I think it was like $20,000 or $25,000 in debt just to go to school.

And they just completely wrote that off. I don't remember how much exactly it was, but how does that work? How does that work over there? Um, so if you do an apprenticeship, if you go to university, you have to pay for it and you'll end up with a student loan and, and debt. But if you do an apprenticeship, um, it's government funded, uh, with the employer and the, and the college.

So, um, I also, then you also get a wage while you're doing it. It's not much. Mine was, I got three pound month in. . Um, but it's, it's something, it's better than less at 17 . Um, and so then, cuz it's, it's half government funded, but we also have, um, there's an accident repair, um, or an accent, uh, management company that do scholarships.

I think they fund two students a year in Belfast to, um, they, you know, pay all their tuition and all that kind of stuff. So then it helps the employer. So it's more incentive for the employer to take on apprentices because a lot of them, we find a lot of them use them kind of as slave labor. And then they finish their time and they go, oh, this guy, this guy can't paint.

And you're going, you didn't teach him . Like just because he just, cuz he, he went to college, it doesn't mean he can do it. He still has to do it during the day. But they've been using him to like brush floors and empty bins. , it's hard to get them to want to teach them because I know it costs the money. I can see both sides of the, the argument.

But you know, it's a future thing. It's not something that you just pick a first year of practice and he can just do everything. It's not how it works. Yeah. Yeah. Would you, I knew this is gonna be a very difficult question to answer, but if someone were to go all the way through university, and I don't even know if this is a fair question to ask, but what, what's the average amount of debt that someone would graduate university from if they didn't do the apprenticeship thing?

Like how much are we talking? Well, I was going to go to uni, so um, I was going to go to university in England and it was 9,000 pound a year. Okay. Yeah. And I wanted to do medicine, which is seven years

So  to be, to be a nurse or what were you gonna, what were you gonna do? I actually wanted to do pathology. What's I seen csi and I was like, I wanna do Fran . Oh, you okay? You, you identified with, uh, what's her face? Um, what's her name? I don't remember what her name is. Gabby? Uh, yeah, I think so. I think that's her name.

I can't remember. I watched it whenever I was younger. She's, she's got the ponytails and then like the boots and everything. Yeah. Um, that's what I wants to do. And then I sing seven years in university and went No .  don't say. Yeah. If it involves math and biology, I'm out like . Yeah. No . Um, but I think what you're doing now, arguably has so much more of an impact out there than you could have ever have done in the health field.

And that is crazy to say because you look at the health field and you're like, oh, well you're saving lives and you're out there. , uh, there is a problem that we have in America, and, and I'm guessing you probably have a similar problem over in Ireland, which is you have all these kids that are 16 to 18 years old and they do not want to go to university.

They do not want to go to college, but they kind of feel like they have to because like, what, what else are you gonna do? Right? Well, if they have someone that they can identify with and look to and say, oh, we're, you know, we're roughly the same, and she's out having fun and doing these things, she's working hard, but she's, you're presenting an option for these kids to go out and possibly do something other than, um, the traditional route of going to university or apprenticeship or whatever.

Not only that, but they're able to take something, show it to their parents and say, Hey, like, she's out here doing this and she's making a great living. And look at how complicated it is to paint a card to fix it. Like this is not simple stuff.  and then you start to bring the parents on board to where they, um, they realize that it is not something to be ashamed of or that you're settling somehow to be in the industry.

Yes. Have you had an encounter at all with a student or a parent or anything like that, that you, um, that you helped them realize this? Yeah. Um, quite a few actually. I get quite a lot of emails, um, you know, from kids that have gone, oh, my mom said, you know, she watches a soap on the tv, a soap opera opera, and is like, oh, such and such does it, and it's a really dirty job and you're not doing it.

And then they've kind of been like, I've seen that you can, you've done it and you can do it. So that's made me, I'm not doing it. And to me, that it's, there's no money in the world that is better than that. Like it's the coolest feeling ever. . Um, and there's been a couple of times at careers events, um, you know, you've had a a, like a, a kid come over and they're looking at the like, you know, we have videos up of me painting and all that kind of stuff, and they're interested and their parents are like pulling them away.

So then I'll immediately transfer to that kid and then you see the parents like kind of pull 'em back and I'm like, hang on a second. Look, I've done it and I've got to do all these amazing things. Um, I've been to all these countries. I've not just stuck to painting CARSs as well, so it's cause everything's transferrable and they're not aware of it like that.

I think that's the main issue of it. Like there's this stereotype of mechanics and car painters and um, metal records that it's really dirty. There's no like career progression because they see 60 year old men still painting cars are still panel biting, but it's because they didn't want to do anything else.

like the, the, the trade or the industry is very much what you put in is what you get out. And some people don't want to do that. They want to stay in a job for their entire life, and that's fine, and it's a great job if you wanna do that. But there's also all these millions of options that people just aren't aware of.

And I think if we can get that into parents and teachers heads, that's half the problem solved. Yeah. Because they're just not aware. They just don't know. Yeah. Um, so much of what any service-based industry has to go through is just the, the preconceived notion of what people think that job is. Some of those smartest people I know are mechanics or painters or whatever you, there's actually this, um, this short or this reel or this TikTok that's gone around and, uh, it, it's based off of a YouTube video and I don't remember what the company or the channel is called on YouTube, but.

They do these, um, they do these group tests where it's um, one through six, right? And one of the one, the one that I'm referring to is there's this, there's these six kids and one of 'em is like this triple PhD biology major girl and you know, blah, blah, blah. And they all took an IQ test. And then the other guy is a, um, eight year marine, been in the, been in the Marines for like eight years, right?

He's recently, um, not graduated, but um, moved on from it. And they start off by having to rank themselves and saying where they think everyone else, um, ranks IQ wise. And the end of the video comes out and the people present who actually has the highest iq. And the girl with like the triple PhD in biology and everything was last in IQ and the marine was like number three or something like that.

So he is like middle of the pack. , and I love videos like that because it's basically, it's helping put out there that it doesn't matter if you've passed school, it doesn't matter. These things don't matter. It doesn't actually, it doesn't actually have anything to do with your iq. And not only that, but going past that, we all know someone who is book smart and then they're street smarts, right?

Yeah. My, my wife could run circles around me in an Excel spreadsheet and figuring out numbers and everything like that, right? I would run . She would die in the zombie apocalypse, straight up. Like just, she would have no hope. , she is not stupid. She like, she is not dumb. We're just smart in different ways, right?

And yeah. One of the other things that I, that we have realized in our marriage is that there's, there's IQ and there's also eq, right? Whether or not you can pick up on other people's emotions really well, or you can. , you could judge people really well, right? Well, she has bottom tier, garbage level eq. She couldn't, she couldn't tell the difference between a person and a rodent.

Like it. She just doesn't, she just doesn't get it.  me. On the other hand, it doesn't take me too long to meet someone. I'm like, okay, I, I dig this person. Like, I, I, I think they're, they're all right now, obviously, I'm not always right a hundred percent of the time, but it's amazing to me that in life those, those qualities have nothing to do with school or anything else like that.

And they have so much more of an impact on Yeah. What your life is actually like than anything else that you've done that's, that people think is important like school or anything like that. Would you, do you have any thoughts on that? I, I completely agree. Like in school, you're not taught any life. , you know, you come out and yeah, maybe, you know, how to like measure an angle of a triangle, like, fantastic.

Never had to do that. , do you know what I mean? Theor really helped me out. . It's amazing. Use it. Look, I, whenever I left school, like I didn't even, I didn't even know you could paint in cars. Like, that sounds so stupid, but I literally thought you crashed your car and you just got a new one. , or they just stocked new panels on.

Like, I, I didn't know because why would I, you know, it wasn't until I actually done it and I went, whoa, like, this is so cool. But even like just general everyday stuff, like I've had to learn tax and everything by myself because you're not taught any of that. Like, I've done business studies in school.

It's not, not once have I used any of it to run my own business. I could tell you loads about different types of businesses, but I didn't know how to run one and it's so stupid. Yep. It's not, it's not stupid. It's, it's not, yeah. It's a different kind of, it's a different kind of, um, you just don't, yeah. I guess you could grind them, but that's, they don't actually go into proper skills that you need on a daily basis.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, it's, it's a really good example as to there is layers to everything, right? Yeah. There is what the public sees on the outside and has the general notion of how things are done. And then there's the next layer in the next layer, in the next layer in, and the only way that you get to see those layers is by peeling back one layer at a time and or just being a part of that thing when it's going on.

Um, so obviously America, you know, we're known for movies, right? Like, and shows people have no idea what goes into. The making of a movie or anything like that? Yeah. They think that the, the actors just show up and then they're just like, yeah, I'm here to act today. Like, just gimme some lines, bro. And then like, and then and they do it in one take.

Yeah. They just do it in one take , and then you, you see the behind the scenes footage of a, of a movie and or you get to be a part of something like that, which I have. And you realize that there is a so much work that goes into something like that and yeah, there, there's just so many layers to a production or anything.

Have you, have you ever had the privilege of being besides someone or knowing someone that started off an entire house build or being the general contractor for an entire house build? No. If you want to see some, my gran and Grand had done it when they were younger, but I, I obviously wasn't about, but if that's about the closes, if you wanna see something awe-inspiring.

Find someone who's a general contractor and has to start a job from beginning to end and organizing all of that, that man could lead an entire army of people into battle , no fucking problem whatsoever. And he would be figuring out the logistics of lunch and dinner on the backside of it at the same fucking time.

Like the amount of organization that you need to do those kinds of things is just nuts. Crazy. Yeah. I would imagine I built my own shed and just the, the amount of organizing and logistics and everything and shit that, that took, I was like, man, I don't ever want to do this. Like, this is great. I'm glad I did it, but fuck that.

there's people for that. Yeah. Um, okay, Rachel, uh, last thing that I kind of want to ask you, um, where do you see the industry going? Like, is, is there something on the horizon that you've seen in like technology wise and or just like in general that you. You see the industry going towards that has you psyched or that you wanna talk about or anything like that?

I honestly don't know where the industry's going. Cause it changes so quickly. You think, you know, you, you get this sort of like grasp of what way you think it's going and then it goes this way. And I think that's the best bit off the industry because it's not boring because you're not doing the same thing every day.

You know, there's new technologies coming out, whether it be like EV vehicles, hybrids, hydrogen, whatever, or if it's paint technology. So like, um, we're really going through like an energy crisis at the minute. Um, bills are disgusting. So like, you know what I've heard of about shops, they're running costs are up 500% and then, you know, the end customer then you, you lose like general retail work because it now has to go through insurance because something that was 150 pound is now 650 pound.

and they can't say that they think you're just ripping them off, but like electricity, gas, oil, the whole lots through the roof. So now we're seeing a lot of, um, low energy, uh, paint systems coming out. So that, that rover that I was talking about that we'd done the, um, the road trip in. So I got to go over to Exalta, which, um, they're, they're one of the, the main paint companies in the world.

And, um, I went to their uk, um, training academy to paint this car. And the whole idea was we painted it in the low energy system, um, to try and promote this to body shops, um, going forward. And like it dries so quickly and there's no hate involved kind of idea. Um, which is really cool. And you're seeing so many of these things coming out and the likes of uv, um, primers and clear coats are now starting to come out, um, again to try battle all the issues that we're sort of seeing in the body shops at the minute.

So, I genuinely don't know. I don't, I don't know what's common, but it's, it's cool, you know, e everything's different every day. Even collars coming out, you know, now you're getting the, the tinted clear coats, the candies, which you maybe only would've seen on like custom low riders and stuff like that.

It's now common through the general like body shops and, you know, technicians are now becoming more skilled, which again, only just enhances the industry as a career choice because it's now not, um, it's not simple at all. It never was, but it, it, it's specifically not lie. Everything is so complicated, whether you're, um, whether you're doing painting, metalwork, McConn, detail and all of it.

Now it's, it's, it's all really complicated and I love it because it changes every day and I, I, I wouldn't change it for the world, but I have no idea where it's gonna go. Awesome. Genuinely, uh, Rachel. If people wanted to find you, where could they, uh, where could they find you? Um, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube.

As Paint By Rich. Paint by Rich. Awesome. Yes. Uh, guys, please go follow her. Like she's just doing some crazy awesome things. I'm gonna spend the rest of my afternoon just watching Paint by Rage. And that's . That's it. . So, uh, Rachel, thank you so much for coming on today. Truly was a pleasure having you on. And I, uh, so excited for what you have going on, what you have going on in the future.

Uh, I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks for helping me speaking. You've been listening to the Autobody podcast presented by Clarity Coat. Our passion is to talk to and about anyone in the industry, from painters, body guys, manufacturers, and anyone in between. We hope you've enjoyed the show. Make sure to like rate and review and we'll be back soon.

But in the meantime, visit us@claritycoat.com and find us on Facebook and YouTube at Clarity Coat. See you next time on the Autobody Podcast.