Episode #159 - The Art of Pivoting- w/Jeremy Winters-PART 2

Episode Notes: 

Ever been frustrated by those little flaws that can mar an otherwise perfect paint job? You're not alone. Join me as I sit down with Jeremy Winters of AccuDraft Spray Booths to expose the truths on what it really takes to keep our paint booths spotless and our projects flawless. We tackle the nitty-gritty details that can cause a painter grief, from troublesome dirt specks to the nuances of achieving an even bake temperature. Jeremy doesn't just bring solutions to the table; he brings a story of transformation that's bound to resonate with anyone who's faced a crossroads in life.

Paint booth maintenance might not be glamorous, but it's the bedrock of standout paintwork. In our exchange, we dial-in on how a disciplined approach to cleanliness and upkeep can elevate your craft. Jeremy shares tips beyond the obvious—like the importance of spotless paint guns and the critical role of filter management. This episode isn't just about troubleshooting; it's about instilling pride in the process and cherishing the details that lead to dazzling results. And for those looking to grow their network and knowledge, we also recount the electrifying energy of industry events like SEMA, where the community's pulse beats strongest.

Wrapping up Part 2 of this 2-part episode, our conversation takes a humanistic turn as we reflect on the journey of our podcasts, which has grown into a hub where industry leaders and passionate painters converge. Hear how a single act of kindness—donating hair to Wigs for Kids—sparked a philanthropic spirit that resonated in our community, motivating us to do more, together. Jeremy's tale of positivity and giving will hopefully inspire you, as it did me, to reach out and make a difference. So, whether you're seeking to refine your technique or you're in search of a dose of inspiration, this episode is your palette for both professional and personal enrichment.

 Guest Info: Jeremy Winters 

FB - https://www.facebook.com/jeremy.winters.33

IG and TikTok - @that_jeremy_fella 

Website: https://www.accudraftpaintbooths.com/ 

DONATE: https://www.wigsforkids.org/monetary-donation/

Chapters

• 0:02 Painters' Common Struggles and Fixes
• 12:15 Booth Cleanliness and Maintenance Importance
• 18:16 Industry Insights and Experience at SEMA
• 29:45 Podcasting and Charity Work
• 38:13 Paint Professional Lessons and Advice
• 45:16 Jeremy's Positive Philanthropy Journey

Transcript

Rick: 0:02

And listen. I think a lot of painters have struggles with certain things. There's some common stuff that guys just overlook or don't think about, or you know and they wonder why they constantly have issues with dirt or you know, uneven bake temperatures, or you know the clear is still soft in this spot but it's hard over here. All those things, what would you say are the probably the top three or four most common things that you've run across that are simple, super simple fixes that you could share, that any painter that's listing could actually pick up a couple of things without going. I better call this Jeremy guy, because I got some issues. I don't know what the hell is going on.

Rick: 0:47

Welcome to the MindWrench podcast with your host, rick Selover, where minor adjustments produce major improvements in mindset, personal growth and success. This is the place to be every Monday, where we make small improvements and take positive actions in our business and personal lives that will make a major impact in our success. Next level growth and quality of life.

Rick: 1:16

Hey, what's up everybody. Welcome to the MindWrench podcast. I'm your host, rick Selover. Thanks so much for stopping in. If you're a returning listener and haven't done so already, please take a minute and click the follow or subscribe button and then rate and review the show. When you rate and review the show, the algorithms for Apple, spotify, google podcasts, iheartradio, amazon Music and all the other platforms will see that it's valuable and show it to more people that have never seen it before, and hopefully it can help them too. I would really, really really appreciate your help, sharing this word with your friends and family as well, and if you're a brand new listener, welcome. I hope you find something of value here that helps you in your personal or professional life as well. Please make sure to click the subscribe or follow button so you never miss another episode.

Rick: 2:01

Last week, I shared my first half of the conversation I had with Jeremy Winters from AcuDraft Booth in part one. Now, if you're a first time listener or you missed last week's show, you can stop me or pause me. Go back and listen to part one of this interview. It was really good. Then come back here and listen to this part two. Conclusion, and don't worry, we'll still be right here waiting for you. Anyways, we dove into Jeremy's artistic beginnings, the health scare that forced a pivot in his career, and the journey to a new future. Here, in part two, we'll explore the joy of being able to serve others as an industry resource, some straight talk on critical Booth maintenance tips, jeremy's perspective on the importance of attending SEMA, and much more. So join us in part two of my interview with Jeremy Winters.

Jeremy: 2:45

Probably April, so April of 21, and JB just calls me and he says hey, man, I got a question for you. You graduated, didn't you? Yeah, if you call it a graduation, yeah, I graduated, ah cool. So you still painting, you're still looking to getting out. I'm always looking at getting out, but you know nobody's hiring right now. Jb, I'm not too worried about it. You know, steady job, I'm painting cars. You know paying off student loans. You know, just just, the world is unsteady right now. So he goes oh, okay, so something came up. You'd be interested. You would tell you, jb, what's going on. Man, you'd be straight, right, yeah.

Rick: 3:22

I was like what, what?

Jeremy: 3:22

are you getting at? And he goes, all right, well, we got something coming up and I think you'd be a good fit for it. So, uh, hey, sorry, not sorry. I went ahead and passed your name and number along to my boss. I said so you're going to. You're going to be getting a call from a guy named Guido here. Uh, here shortly. Just just take the call. A guy named Guido is going to be giving me a call. You pass my information along. You pass my information along, dude right up your alley.

Jeremy: 3:45

Yeah, he's like it's right up your alley. I think you'll be good for it. Just talk to him. Okay, sure enough, Guido calls and we talk and we hit it off.

Jeremy: 3:56

I'm like, okay, next thing, I know I'm on a plane up to uh, up to Jersey and uh, so we, we talked in person and we literally talked like we had known each other for a number of years and uh, yeah, we struck a deal right then and and they brought me on board and I do content and marketing with them, uh, a little bit of industry relations, but my, my official title is uh is content. I handle tech articles for them, uh, writeups and stuff. You know, uh, if you're messaging through social media, 99% of the times you're going to be talking with me. I try to, I try to be that source for people that's out in the field, if they're.

Jeremy: 4:33

If you're a painter working late and your booth shuts off in the middle of it yeah, I've had it happen. You know it's after hours. You know you may be done with that job until morning. You know you're working late for a reason Hell, I was. So I try to be that source for somebody. If somebody's got an issue, you know, heck, they can message us and at least have somebody there to help troubleshoot, help them, help them, help them walk through something if possible. So, uh, it's. It's been a great place to be at. You know you get the whole thing of treated like family and whatnot Um it. This one really has been it's. It's been really cool to work with people who all had the same goals in mind and let you do your job, yeah.

Rick: 5:10

I think that role suits you, jeremy, because, um, it puts you in a position to help other painters, which is awesome, cause you were a former painter and you've been in those spots and I saw you a couple of years in a row, uh, including this past year at SEMA, and you're kind of the face of of Accu Draft at that show.

Rick: 5:27

I know there's some other guys that are working with you, but you kind of seem to be out there, uh, interacting with as many people walking by as possible in a lot of the painters you know, obviously they're going to look at and owners are going to look at the booth and, uh, I know you've helped a lot of guys just simple questions and simple answers and simple things that you know. Uh, it was fortunate they walked by you because you actually jumped out and helped them out something, and that it's so cool to be in that kind of a spot, to be, uh, someone that can share some experience and actually help somebody else make their lives a little bit better. In this business. I mean, we all, we all strive Sorry, man to want to be like that, so that's great.

Jeremy: 6:08

It's. It's a lot of fun because you never know what, what somebody's going to have an issue with. So it's, it's. It's always a new thing coming up. You know. It could be filter related, it could be a power issue, it could be maintenance issue. You know, it could be so many different things. It could be something as simple as they forgot to reset an alarm. You know it. Or it could be something as simple as they opened a door and it tripped an alarm, you know, while the, while the heat was on, which some you know, the smarter, the smart booth, so today, do that. It's a safety precaution that they have.

Jeremy: 6:36

And just being able to talk to people and and talk to the different painters and whatnot, that's, that's part of whenever I'm traveling around, you know, traveling different shops, doing videos and pictures and whatnot, documenting shops and creating videos for them. It's, it's a lot of fun. Just I can sit down and I can just talk to talk to the different painters. Hey man, are you having any issues? Everything running fine for you. What can I help you with?

Jeremy: 6:55

You know there was one that we had. It was in Fort Wayne, indiana. Um guy was having a problem and it just turns out that he hadn't been doing the cleaning that he said he had. And we went through and we were going. You know, we changed his filters, we changed everything out and his hose was just covered in debris. So I cleaned all that off. The floor was he had the carpet in the floor, um, with the pigment in the floor, and I don't think that stuff had been cleaned out in a very long time. I felt like gravel. So we vacuumed all that out, got everything going and he was dialed in. He was good. It was just, it was a cleanliness issue.

Jeremy: 7:30

But I went and was able to go up there. You know, take my paint guns, take my mask, take my suit, everything. And they said are you ready? I said yep, and I unzip my bag and I started getting everything out. The painter just looks at me and said, brother, I'm ready to go, I'll paint one if you need me to. Let's see what's going on, let's see where I can help. And he'd never had that before. And that's that's the fun part about my job is being able to relate to people where I was, because so many times when you're in the shop and this used to drive me absolutely crazy is you would reach out to somebody either in the shop or either through social media, make a phone call, you know, ask your boss to get a hold of somebody and oh, they didn't return my call. Or they would put it off and say, oh, I'll call you back, or I don't know, or they'll try to give you a BS answer.

Rick: 8:12

Yeah.

Jeremy: 8:13

And that used to. Oh, that would get me so boiled up.

Rick: 8:17

Just call her on 800 number. I'm sure somebody can help you out.

Jeremy: 8:20

And it's like I, I I respect more people who would just be up front and just say, hey, I don't know, but I'll get you the answer and I'll call you back here shortly, yeah.

Rick: 8:29

Okay, I still do that.

Jeremy: 8:30

I can respect that You're telling me you don't know, let me find out, let me do some digging, I'll get back to you. Okay, cool deal. But those, those people that just would return a phone call to get you an answer or would put you off or try to BS you with an answer, that was the biggest one. And you painters out there, you understand, we've all dealt with somebody and it's just. You can read through it.

Rick: 8:54

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Rick: 9:02

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Rick: 9:57

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Jeremy: 10:35

You can read through that and just I try to be that person for whenever I was in the booth who I wish I had, that I could contact. I don't have all the answers. I don't claim to be, but I know enough people I can get you an answer.

Rick: 10:49

So I try yeah, you're right In my position now, the things I do. I do exactly the same thing. I try to be a source to help somebody else out in those spots where I used to reach out to people and just get the I don't know I'll get back to you, I'll call you back and it just doesn't happen. I thought you know what I will get an opportunity that will help without stalling right, without taking the wrong direction. So I'm right there with you, man, right there with you Talking about booth problems and things that you've seen, working with painters and working in shops and being kind of a face guy, face man or front man for AccuDraft in certain areas.

Rick: 11:33

What, and listen, I can call. A lot of painters have struggles with certain things. There's some common stuff that guys just overlook or don't think about and they wonder why they constantly have issues with dirt or uneven bake temperatures or the clear's still soft in this spot. But it's hard over here. All those things. What would you say are the probably the top three or four most common things that you've run across that are super simple fixes that you could share, that any painter that's listing could actually pick up a couple things without going. I better call this Jeremy guy, because.

Jeremy: 12:11

I got some issues. I don't know what the hell's going on right.

Jeremy: 12:15

So whenever it comes to just stuff that you're gonna run across in the booth, the biggest thing is cleanliness. The number one thing we always come across is cleanliness. People still testing patterns on the gun on the wall. At least put a piece of paper up. If you're gonna do that, put a big old thing at 36, please at least. But just cleanliness. Not blowing a booth out, not vacuuming it. Filters I know a number of people who know me are absolutely laughing when I say that, but filters are the biggest thing. With AccuDraft a lot of the stuff that we have we've actually put out videos of them making fun of me. For how many times I reference filters?

Rick: 12:54

You've got to use these filters.

Jeremy: 12:56

Yeah, yeah, I knew exactly who did that video at it and it was hilarious. But you would be surprised at just how often filters are an issue for a booth. Whether you have too high a pressure, too low a pressure, it can all be a lot of times be correlated to that. Now there could be other underlying issues. You could have a VFD that's gotten out of whack. Somebody's trying to adjust it, like what happened at the shop that I was previously at whenever they called JBL. But cleanliness man, that's probably gonna take up probably the top three right there. As far as it goes, it's just filters, because whether you're changing the rear set of filters and not changing the main floor filters, or vice versa, changing the floor filters and not changing out the rear sets I've ran across that where. And if you got a downdraft and you're changing out the floor filters, that's great, they're gonna go right by that, but then they're gonna still get stopped up by those clogged up filters that are back here on the rear set.

Jeremy: 13:54

Well, those are the ones.

Jeremy: 13:55

That's where that squirrel cage, that fan is pulling everything through. Air, is always gonna go the path of least resistance, so it's either eventually going to break through that crusty filter or something's gonna give way. The thing is is that those motors are sitting there turning, especially now with the VFDs. The VFDs are gonna sit there and make sure that everything is holding a certain pressure. Well, whenever it's having to strain even more to keep that pressure up, you're actually gonna put more strain onto that motor, which is gonna cause premature wear. Or if you blow through those crusty filters which I've got some pictures that'll blow your mind of stuff that we found and all of that overspray is now going on to that squirrel cage fan. Well, the problem there is that now you're getting overspray built up on something that you're not gonna know the issues until a year or two down the road whenever you build up so much of that, and then also the chunk of it flies off and now you're feeling the vibration in the booth walls and the condominium wondering what's going on Now.

Jeremy: 14:55

You're having to replace a fan and all of this and it's just dude. It's so much. The biggest thing is just going through and just taking care of your equipment. It's not completely up to the shop to handle that. You, as a painter, have to take care of that, whether it's just just take a look at your seals, clean your glass, clean your windows, put new pigment, dirt trap whatever your floor coating is. Keep that fresh. Change out your filters, blow it out. If you've got the wall mounted blowers, we've got the accelerator blowers. There's other brands out there.

Jeremy: 15:29

Just take an alcohol wipe once a week. Wipe out the insides of them, because that is circulating air from inside the booth. This is something that actually came up not too terribly long ago. They're having clean jobs until they turn their blowers on. I don't know what the problem is. Well, it's running filtered air from the booth and it's going to be running through there.

Jeremy: 15:48

Well, the problem is is that A if you don't change those filters out, or if they're turning on the blowers while the over spray is still in the air? They're not turning on the blowers after everything has been evacuated, while that over spray is going to land somewhere it's going to get stirred up and just blow everywhere and then it's blowing across your paint job, blowing into the around the nozzles and whatnot, and it all just builds up. So just taking an alcohol wipe on the inside of the nozzles, that takes care of that problem. You don't have to worry about anything. But it's just basic upkeep. It's the stuff we take for granted, and I was one of those guys. So I'm not casting stones. I got into a funk where I was. I just I was like I'm fighting trash and I don't know where it's coming from. Well, you're either A not cleaning your guns properly, break them down.

Rick: 16:37

Don't, don't these three places dirt come from, usually, right, yeah, and the environments, the car yourself and your guns?

Jeremy: 16:45

Yes, and the thing is, is that if you're just doing a quick rinse to go to another color, that's perfectly fine, but take the time after the fact to. You know, break down that gun, make sure it's cleaned out, take the needle out, take the fluid tip off, clean everything, make sure it's clean, scrub it out. You know the same thing with a with a paint suit. Blow the paint suit off, you know, get it washed, get a new one. You don't have to wear the same paint suit for six months.

Rick: 17:09

They're not that expensive, I really understand.

Jeremy: 17:11

They're not expensive in the grand scheme of things. If you're turning 200 hours, you can swing an $80 paint suit. It's okay.

Rick: 17:18

Yeah, I've. I did a podcast probably two years ago about the fact that your paint booth is like your shop's cash register. So because I know some of these cleanliness and maintenance issues, a lot of times the painters say well, listen, I told the owner he doesn't want to spend the money, he doesn't want to buy new filters. You know, it's been three years and I haven't got new ceiling filters because the boss doesn't want to spend the money.

Jeremy: 17:42

I went six years with the same ceiling filters in the shop Whenever I come back to the industry. Six years, six years, just the ceiling filters have been changed. I reference everybody to my very first Fenderbender feature that I had. It was back April. Just searched my name on Fenderbender's website and it was, I think. The article was called a painter for life and in that you'll see the cover shot or the shot that they used for the article is me standing in the booth and you know, just pulling the trigger. You know I've got water in the paint gun. Looks like clear coat, but you can see the ceiling filters behind me and they were brown.

Rick: 18:16

I was like anytime I reference them, I'm like I've been there.

Jeremy: 18:19

I dealt with that. You know it's where they didn't want to change the ceiling filters because they didn't want the downtime but they also didn't want the expense of. Well, hey, it's not causing any problems, the booths are operating right. They don't understand a lot of people don't understand preventative maintenance. And if you stay on top of preventative maintenance, hey, you're spending a couple of hundred dollars here and there, but in the grand scheme of things, you are far outweighing what the thousands of dollars repair is going to be down the road when something actually hits the fan. And we never think about servicing the booth until it's down.

Jeremy: 18:53

And I like what you said with the booth being a cash register. That's exactly what it is, because all work in the shop stops no one's delivering cars, no one's assembling cars, nobody is buffing, detailing anything until they get through the booth. And all of a sudden, when the booth is down, oh, now is an emergency, now I have to have the booth guy here today. I need to have them. Well, what if they don't have the part? Yeah, that's part of it. So that's some of the cool things about AccuDraft and some of the programs that we have, like with AccuDraft Live, where we can actually remote into the booths and stuff now see what the issues are if and when something happens, just to help expedite the process. It's a very cool setup and I love how things are going in the industry now the smart setups and stuff. Accudraft Live was a really cool project that they did and I came in right after they launched it, so it's been really neat to see that take up.

Rick: 19:46

Yeah, looks like technology is hitting the booths as much as it's hitting everything else right now, which I think is awesome. I did see that while I was at SEMA and thanks for showing that to me. I didn't know that existed with Sprayboost I really didn't. So absolutely, it was a really cool project.

Jeremy: 20:00

We've got a guy, andrew, here in AccuDraft, andrew Nicolay, and he developed the entire thing, wrote the programming and all and he's on top of it. So if he's got to update anything or whatnot, he's the man. That guy hats off to you guys who do computer work. I don't understand it. Anybody who hears this will understand. I am not your technology guy. So the fact that I had a podcast I do video editing, stuff like that it blows their mind because I hate computers.

Rick: 20:34

Yeah, I'm going to come back to that podcast piece in a minute. So back to SEMA. So I saw you last at SEMA 2023. And it took me a while to get my voice back and everything else there's. So much talking and so many people. It's such a cool experience. What were your thoughts on the show this year? I know you've been there a few different years. What were your thoughts on the show and some of your biggest takeaways?

Jeremy: 21:00

So my biggest thing with SEMA is the camaraderie For going and visiting. As a painter, going and visiting with the manufacturer now it's just nice to see everybody slowly coming back now to having the energy that SEMA was pre-COVID those first two years, man, right after COVID it was bad. This year it seemed like there was an energy in the air and that people were excited and happy to be there. It was so nice man Going to SEMA. If you don't leave refreshed and just happy and energetic about stuff, I don't know. I mean, everybody takes different things away. I went because it's an experience and you're never going to get that large of grouping of different people from the industry in one spot where you can do so much networking. Somebody tells you kick rocks, okay, have a nice day. All right, they're a prick. Move on to the next person.

Rick: 21:58

Two feet away, I'm going to find somebody that's awesome to talk to.

Jeremy: 22:01

And it's you run into people, man. You literally will run into people. My first year at SEMA, I ran into Charlie Hutton in the hallway and it was one of those things. If I ran in, what the hell? Hi, yeah, but SEMA every year to me is a refresher and it's so nice to be able to talk to everybody from the industry. As big as the industry is, it's really actually small and it's nice to see the close net, the people who come there and just being able to chat For me working for a manufacturer now, being able to help them problem solve, point them in the right direction, just being able to talk tech with people and just have that fun and that camaraderie. It's a lot of fun every single year. That's the best decision I ever did for me personally, because that changed perspective on everything for me when I started going to SEMA in 2016.

Rick: 22:51

Yeah, listen, I've only gone the past two years. I never been to SEMA before. I've been in this industry over 40 years Never been to SEMA. I think I went to NACE once, I think one of the last years. They were in Detroit and it was very disappointing.

Jeremy: 23:03

That was a disappointment, oh my God, and I'm like I went to the one in Atlanta, so I got it.

Rick: 23:09

I'm like, if this is what NACE is, I haven't missed anything. You know what I mean If I started hearing about SEMA and how everything was gearing really towards the SEMA shows and you're getting bigger and bigger. So when I finally went in 2022, there's definitely an eye opener for me and I fell in love with the fact that you can see so many people, you can interact with everybody. We'll talk to you, right, and there's just so many good people in this industry and the best of the best will be at SEMA. So I look at it as if you own a shop. You're part of a shop, an organization, you're even a technician or a painter. You're somebody in this industry. Man, that is like a must do is to tend at least once, because if you go once, you'll end up going again and again, and again.

Jeremy: 23:55

Yeah. And even if you just want to do once, at least you could mark it off the bucket list of. That was an experience.

Rick: 24:01

But after this I mean with this story we've been talking about, jeremy, you know, painters seem to have great opportunities within this industry beyond being a painter, because that artistic side that makes a good painter also gives him creativity to go. Oh, you know, I could probably do something like that, or I've got those natural people skills or I've got this artistic path that could lead into, you know, some airbrushing or some, you know, selling airbrushes or working for a paint manufacturer. There's so many avenues to go and you're a perfect example that you you're kind of dealt a shitty hand at an early age. You know killing, a potentially killing a career that you like, but it kind of evolved in some other things that have worked out good for you, which is which is awesome. I'm happy for you.

Jeremy: 24:51

So so I went just to touch on that. So I went to SEMA the first time in 2016, not as a downer, but I lost my dad November 1st 2006. Shit situation is what it is, but you know, sema lands right on November 1st every year and we're coming up on the 10 year anniversary and I was a miserable you know what during that time of year. I did not like it. I tried to stay as far away from this area as I could and I finally just got got done and over being that guy, that miserable, you know what, yeah, so it's like I don't have to. I told my wife I'm like I want to do something that would just that he would enjoy. You know, if he was here, he'd be getting pissed off at me. Something. Life goes on, get over it. Yeah, that's just my dad, you know hard love. And so I told her I was like I think I want to go to SEMA. I've never been that being experienced. It'd be super awesome just to be able to go. So, 2016, I've never. I think I've been in a plane once and I went and it was. It was amazing because I went there just to experience it and just be able just to talk to people and you know, being from that small town, you know I didn't know all of those avenues existed.

Jeremy: 26:06

I figured I was going to follow the path of being a painter and eventually maybe get into being a paint rep or maybe a Tech for a paint company, maybe go to work at a job or store, you know, if they had somebody that needed for paint tech or whatnot. Right, I feared that was going to be my career path. Right, and I'm talking and I start meeting with some of the the big wig, big wigs of PPG, some of the big wigs of Exalta. Steven Smith set up Steven Smith here in Atlanta, set up a couple meetings with some of the head guys from Exalta that were going to be there. And here I am. I'm painter, jeremy. You know I've still got paint on my arms and stuff. I'm a little bit of a senior shaking hands with guys in suits and I'm like I am so severely underdressed for this. I didn't know I was supposed to dress up for this thing.

Jeremy: 26:49

Um but just you see the different opportunities from all the stuff that's out there. Now they've got West Hall opened up, which is where I think the gold parking lot used to be. Um, so that's, that's kind of spread the spread the show out a good bit. So it's not. It's not as compacted in it used to be. Man, you, you know, before covid, you're walking shoulder to shoulder, you know you hoped you didn't have a bag or something that you were having to carry.

Rick: 27:11

Because it was it got tight.

Jeremy: 27:13

Yeah, so I think 20, what was it? 21 was the first one back and you know they were they. That was the first year they opened up West Hall, and when they did that West Hall I don't know how many thousands of square feet it is, but it is ginormous, um and then last year, and then this year this year I didn't even get to West Hall but they had so much stuff just spread out, so they got rid of the tents that were on the opposite end of North Hall, um, and they put you know so many other things over over into West Hall and off-road and this and that it it really helps Make it easier for people just to actually go and enjoy Um, instead of feeling like you're in this giant thing that all of all of us have heard about for years and seen on tv. That's, that's what it was for me. I grew up watching the power block. You know, watching the power block Stacy, david, kevin Tates, all these guys, and they're at seema Seema's awesome.

Jeremy: 28:01

You know, get to see the stuff that you can't really get into. It's an industry only event and I'm there and now I'm getting to take it all in and meet these people and and just start networking Blew my freaking mind. Best thing I ever did for myself, because I don't have to be just a painter. I don't have to be just a a paint tech or a rep. There are jobs all over in this industry that are looking for good, qualified people and if you know the product, you have a better chance than anybody. And it's it's absolutely awesome.

Rick: 28:32

Yeah, so a little hope for you body guys and painters out there that Well, you know, someday I do want to get out of this, whether it's for health reasons, or you want to expand, or or just you know. You know you're meant for a little bit more. There is a boatload of opportunity out there, but I'd say best thing you could do for yourself if you haven't done yet is go to the next seema. Yeah and network. Take a chance on yourself. You can man.

Jeremy: 28:54

Yep, take a chance on yourself. Talk to people, network. Like I said earlier, if they tell you to kick rocks, okay, move on to the next person. Don't take it personal, get moving.

Rick: 29:04

No problem, Listen. I wanted to ask you about one more thing. Um so sure I remember you from, uh, this crazy little thing called booth talk. I remember seeing it a couple different places and and actually I remember you know Senior picture on on several things. And then when I ran into you see my last year and going man, that guy looks really familiar. Why do I know his face?

Jeremy: 29:27

right, it was for because I cut my hair off, yeah. So you nobody moving once I cut the pp Jesus here off. So pp.

Rick: 29:36

Jesus, so you uh Started that. What years is? Like 2016 or something, or?

Jeremy: 29:42

20 is 2016 or 2017. I think it was.

Rick: 29:45

I think before podcasts even became a thing.

Jeremy: 29:48

Yeah, in our industry. Yeah, and that was. It was literally just a. I didn't even know what a podcast was that, just just to throw that out there and it's. It's funny.

Jeremy: 29:56

I I just had an idea Instagram was getting really big with they were starting to do they had the live feature that had come out and I was like I just think it'd be fun Just to get a bunch of painters together and just talk shop you know war stories just talk shop and have fun. Yeah, you know this, before they started having the ability to bring other people live with you. You know that came in at the very tail end of it, but just just to have that back and forth, that come Rotary. You know, like a fireside chat, and that's literally what it started out with. I put a post up on on instagram and the the old saying is hilarious, but if you build it, they'll come. And we had a number of people that that, uh, that uh, that came out for it. I was like there's like 34 people that showed up. I was like that's, that's kind of cool.

Rick: 30:40

Okay, we'll do that again. That was a lot of fun.

Jeremy: 30:42

Yeah, and I figured it'd be like a, like a once a month thing or something. It was, I think, like three, four weeks later I did it again and bunch of people showed up and it was a little bit more that had come in. I was that'd be kind of that, there's something to this. And so we started doing it, I think every every two weeks, and then it became weekly. Uh, the two every two weeks only lasted like a month and then we started doing live, uh, just live, just open fireside chat style, um, every single Saturday night on instagram, live, and and uh. Then we had done it for just like four or five months and they're like hey, what if I can't tune into the live stream? I'm sure you'll be able to tune into the live stream.

Jeremy: 31:18

Would, uh, would you ever consider making this a podcast and recording it? How the hell do I record this, google, how do I record a podcast? And I got, I got the, I got the recording device and the microphones and all that, set it up and and Then it just it became actual episodic. You know, we started in talking to people from the industry Tony Lermer, let's see who do we have the first, first number episodes. We had Tony Lermer from Sada, we had Tim Morgan from Svinese, we had Kristen Felder from collision hub, ron Cohn from mob steal at the time, but we wound up doing a Hundred and something actual podcast.

Jeremy: 32:00

No Kim, and then and then the yeah, and then the live streams were more than that because we never recorded all of them. So it was. We did a lot of them. It was. It was I want to say this closer to 150 of the actual podcast episodes themselves. It was. It was a lot of fun. We did a lot of good things.

Jeremy: 32:20

One of the things that I'm most proud of is we did an online charity auction. We had some folks just send in stuff. You know Kevin, kevin tapes from Panky Cation. He sent in some of his DVDs for how to paint cars and stuff. Sada had donated some stuff, collision edge donated some tape things and caddies, sim and a couple of other people had donated stuff. And we just did a live auction right there, just me in front of a camera talking to everybody and I'm writing down the bids and the user names and whatnot, and we wound up and the whole principle.

Jeremy: 32:50

And it goes into the whole hair thing. I grew my hair out, originally because I was lazy and didn't want to get a haircut, but I've always wanted to grow it out to be able to donate it, and I've gone through a couple different companies you know locks of love, what not but I came across this company called wigs for kids and Wigs for kids is an organization does the same thing. They make wigs for kids that are going through Pediatric treatments for cancer. One ought to make them lose their head. One soft spot I have is for kids who are having to deal with crap because kid there's. There's no reason any kid should feel Not good enough. A kids, a childhood should be a childhood. They should be able to be themselves, have fun and not have to deal with that bullshit. Right, catch myself here.

Rick: 33:35

I agree right there. But it's.

Jeremy: 33:40

It's one thing, that and that. That's what Chris and I we we click so much on on that part. But I donated my hair several times to wigs for kids and I thought it'd be cool if we could, you know, raise money, donated to them and maybe we could help you know, fund you and part of a wig for a kid. You know, because they work strictly off of donations. They don't take it and, you know, send it off to somebody, or they don't take it and work off of. You know, they are strictly Donation, that is it. They do not charge the families for the wigs that they create for the kids. Unlike some of the other companies, wigs for kids is a 100% free Service for those kids that are going through. All they got to do is do the application process, the parents do and whatnot. So we wound up and I'm I'm, I should have pulled it up before we did this. I can't remember what the exact amount was. It was like it was 21, 22, 2300 dollars. It was somewhere in that neighborhood that we wound up raising for this, which I think the I think the wig. At the time, the cost for a wig was like $1800 or something. So we were able to cover one wig Just of, just off of this donation I'd again I did a live feed showing hey, I'm here at the the wigs for kids site, the donation.

Jeremy: 34:55

This is the monetary donation that we're doing and it was that's. That's probably the one thing that I'm most proud of with that, because everybody came together. You know the the best thing. It was like Rob Paddock, rob Paddock, ron Cohn and a couple others. They were bidding on stuff. And then they're like I just want to make a donation, don't throw it back in, re-auction it. Like we had tape things that were re-auction like four and five times. You know tape caddies from collision edge, tim Briggs hats off to him and shout out to him and they were just donated and they just kept. You know, hey, I'll just make the donation, auction it back off again.

Jeremy: 35:27

Good people and it just yeah, and and it just if there's. Yeah, I did it to be able to To to help the industry and be able to chat with people and try to. You know, the podcast eventually became every week as it was. It was topical, you know we talking about spectrophotometers, metamerism, you know application issues, water versus solvent, color-tenning, all these different things. You know, just getting different perspectives live from different people and I'm proud of that. But the most proud man is is what we did for wigs for kids, as because we came together as a community and just you know, we donated and that's.

Jeremy: 36:03

I'm proud of that because it went to a damn good cause. And, like I said, man, I got two soft spots. I got, yeah, freaking puppies and kids. You know, kids, kids should not have to feel anything less than To, to to be able to do that to everybody who had a part in that. You know, this has been God. This is 2024. We did that, maybe an 18 every single one of you, if you're listening. Thank you for being a part of that.

Rick: 36:30

Yeah, and I will thank you guys too, because that that is incredible and that's such a nice thing to be able to do. And, as a matter of fact, when I, when we wrap all this up, and I, when I Produce this and distribute it, I will make sure, in fact, you can send me the information I need. But I want to put the wigs for kids, their site, in here and some contact information, and I'm going to ask the audience to If they could spare a little change and help out a little bit, make a donation to wigs for kids. I think that's a fantastic idea.

Rick: 37:03

I think there's more kids that deal cancer now than you know 20 years ago. You see a lot more of it now. And, and to your point, yeah, kids, I mean they should just be able to enjoy being a kid. There's enough drama and shit that happens when we grow up to be adults. Yeah, it's horrible that they got to go through that stuff from your kids. So thank you for doing that. I really appreciate that, jeremy. I think that's a very cool thing to do and I want to make sure we we recognize and promote that as much as we can.

Jeremy: 37:30

Sure thing. Okay, I appreciate it man.

Rick: 37:32

Thank you Awesome. So I know we're. We're pretty much at our time, we're okay a bit, which I'm cool with. So I do want to ask you, just want to ask you one more thing.

Jeremy: 37:45

Sure.

Rick: 37:46

I'm an open-blooded brother, hit me throw through all that you've gone through and you know you've had a pretty, pretty vast experience in your career so far and you still got a long ways to go, which is awesome. What is the greatest lesson that you've learned to this point?

Jeremy: 38:04

Fail forward, fail forward. That is something that came to me from Tim Bricks Again, collision edge. That man has so many little nuggets that he will just toss into a conversation and if you're paying attention you'll pick up so much stuff from it. He dropped that on me one time and I was like what the hell are you talking about? What is fail forward? And he's like well, listen, every day is a learning experience. Every time you screw something up, you need to learn from it. You're going to keep going. Time progresses. You're going to keep moving forward.

Jeremy: 38:40

The thing is is that you don't want to fall backwards, he said. When you fall backwards, you're going to keep doing the same mistake over and over and over again and it's going to get costly. You paint a car and you run the piss out of a quarter panel. Huh, well, you need to evaluate how you did that. Did you? Were you too close? Were you too fast on your flash times? Were you not having? Did you not have your gun set up correctly? Did you not have the right reducer? Were you not doing anything by temperature? That you so many different factors and and the thing is that when you fail, you want to fail forward. When you fail and you're going to fail every single day at something if you're not failing every day, then you're not doing your what you need to progress. You fail by, you know, obviously, screwing something up and learning how not to have that happen and make it better it is. It is one of the the best things that I have taken out of of the second half of my career. I'd probably say the you know, just just on the second half of my career fail forward.

Jeremy: 39:35

First half of the first half of my career. I'd have to say the best advice and this is me being a painter is a clean booth as a happy booth. I have repeated this and the guys who I've worked with I hate this saying because I'm constantly telling them a clean booth is a happy booth, because I used to be that dirty guy in the booth. I'd untap a car. I toss it off to the side. I'd wipe a car. I toss the towels over here. I'd cut the car out of plastic. I toss the razor blade over here paper scraps all that.

Jeremy: 40:02

I'll clean it up whenever I'm done with the car.

Jeremy: 40:04

And a guy I worked with, jeff McElhaney. I will never forget Jeff, him and his wife, ms Kim. They are again. They are good people. Jeff would he would come in there and just mess with me. He was old school, but that man he's. He was painting, I think 25 or 26 years ago. Whenever I met him all those years ago and he's still in it, still painting, and he'd just come in. He's like Jeremy, you know, a clean booth is a happy booth and he's just kind of looking around at all the stuff. I'm like, well, you know, I'm I'm going to finish up this car and then I'm going to get it. You know, I'll get everything picked up, you know, and it's like, yeah, and he interrupts me, but yeah, but you know, a clean booth is a happy booth, jeremy. Yeah, but you know, I'm just going to get this thing. I just got to wipe it down right now. Then I'm going to get a clean booth as a happy booth. Jeremy Got it.

Rick: 40:48

This is rick and miserable right now.

Jeremy: 40:49

Yeah, so I'm going. I just stopped what I'm doing and I it was. Just it was him driving that into my head to you know, take care of what you're doing, take care of the booth, take care of the environment, don't just be that messy guy. You know a clean booth is a happy booth and it became the saying that you know, as I was teaching. You know some of the other guys you know throughout my career. You know the preppers wanting to start to be painters and whatnot coming in. It was the same thing I teach, only like a clean booth is a happy booth, Tony and I just I just got to get a clean booth A tire you're going to do that.

Rick: 41:20

That's awesome. Great, great life advice, great tips. I appreciate you sharing those. Jeremy, Listen, it's been a blast talking with you. I think we could do this for probably a couple more hours if time allowed, but Brother anytime you retail, I think. I think we'll definitely do a part two, part three, part four maybe there we go.

Rick: 41:42

More to uncover here, but I really appreciate your time. I really appreciate you sharing your story and kind of how your career has gone and some of the cool things you've done, and I know there's a lot more in stores.

Jeremy: 41:51

So Now, just just real quick before you, before we sign off, I do want to say one thing.

Jeremy: 41:56

You see, you made a comment earlier about being kind of the face for ackee draft and I I just want to put out there I don't see myself as a face but I want to give credit to where it's due on that. You know, obviously I'm doing a bunch of the videos of stuff for ackee draft and whatnot. But it's because of the family, the Pippa family Guido Pippa, lorena and his, which is his sister, and his other sister to Giavana, and I was all started by their dad guy. It's because of them giving me the opportunity to be part of an amazing company and being able to advance forward in my career and taking a chance on me. You know they're they're a great company to work for and I can talk about their boost because I use their boost. So it made it a lot easier to take the, to make the jump. But it's it's because I work for a great company and it's those people that are in charge who gives me the chance, and it's good folks that make a difference.

Rick: 42:50

So I just want to throw it out.

Rick: 42:52

there I have to do that because of them.

Jeremy: 42:54

You know, if they never gave me the chance then, then then I I don't know where I'd be right now. But you know I I owe everything in my second half of my career for them, giving me the opportunity.

Rick: 43:04

Well, that's a, that's a sign of a great company when there are people that they entrust in, support them at that level and say, if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be who I am here today. And that's a great testament to to AccuDraft Boost for for you, Jeremy, so duly noted, and it will definitely put something in the show notes for that too. So I appreciate it. Where can everybody find you if they're not hanging out at SEMA in late October, early November?

Jeremy: 43:31

Well, I I will always be going to SEMA, absolutely love SEMA. I am going to be going to a bunch of different trade shows this year. I have not looked at the schedule so I don't know which exact ones. I know Fabtech I'll be going to that one, I think this year is down in Orlando. Finish Masters Hoodmaster. I'll be there again this year. There's a bunch of a bunch of different small trade shows, the Southeast Collision Conference. I think that was in Virginia, If I recall right.

Rick: 43:58

I'll be down in Southeast. I will see you down there, absolutely.

Jeremy: 44:01

Then I think PPG has a, has another one down in Miami. Yep, there's a number of them. So just trade shows, social media you can check out Acudraff Paint Boosts across all social media platforms. We've got a TikTok now. No, you're not going to see me out there dancing to shake my ass. I refuse. And I told them I will sign whatever waiver I have to. It's not happening. But me personally Jeremy Winters on Facebook, that Jeremy Fella, which is a play on my old Instagram name, that painter fella, so that Jeremy Fella on Instagram. And the same thing on TikTok. I rarely use, I rarely post as much as I used to, but it's a lot of fun. It really is. So I'm just posting on stuff that I'm working on here at the home shop now.

Rick: 44:42

Excellent, excellent. Well, I'll get that those, all those sites for you, posted in the show notes when I release this. Once again, jeremy, it's been a blast talking with you. Such great information, such good stories and you got a great heart, and you know I'm thankful that there's more people like you in this industry now than there was back in the days that I grew up in, and so I appreciate it.

Rick: 45:06

Thank you All right, thank you again. We'll talk soon. Wow, I'm so glad I had the chance to get to know this inspirational industry resource. Jeremy's story is a great testament to the fact that, if you can keep a positive mindset during those difficult challenges life seems to throw at all of us, sooner or later be open to new opportunities and maintain a passion to serving others. Learning how to pivot can take you places you've never dreamed of.

Rick: 45:32

I was also inspired by his desire to make a difference with not only his personal donations of his quote unquote PP Jesus hair, but to actively fundraise for wigs for kids within the pink community to cover the full cost of one wig, which is about $1,800, to help restore a little confidence and joy and self respect for one child that lost their hair to cancer. That I would like to challenge all of you listeners to help me achieve that goal as well. I'll share a link where you can donate directly to wigs for kids in the show notes, as well as on my Mind Wrench podcast Facebook page and collision mastermind Facebook group. Just send me a message or a screenshot that you donated and I'll give you a shout out on an upcoming podcast episode. Thanks again for tuning in. I really appreciate your support and I hope you have a great week. I can always be reached at wwwricksellovercom, where you can find all my social media links podcast episodes, blog posts and much more.