all access 27 audio
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Gene Fetty: [00:00:00] Hey, what's up everybody. Gene Fetty from the auto appearance Institute back at you with another episode of our all access podcast. We are live on location in New Jersey at the Northeast show. Well, they see that banner back there. Uh, and our buddy, Stefan of you break. I fix is at the show. Uh, when I heard he was coming, uh, I reached out and said, Hey, can we do an episode?
Uh, and while we were prepping, you know, I was like, Hey, is it you break I fix. And he goes, yep. And he goes, and whatever you ask, I'll answer. So that's the name of the show is you, it's you, it's you ask. I answer with you. Break. I fix or something like that. Anyways, seven. Thanks for, uh, thanks for agreeing to come on and do an episode.
Absolutely. Uh, you can also follow Stefan on the smash masters podcast. Uh, episode one was maybe your best episode. Uh, two. Oh, was it two? Yeah, it was. Well, your first guest. Oh, okay. Well, then episode two might be the best, uh, episode. I'm just kidding. I'm not going to disagree. I'm just kidding. It's actually a [00:01:00] great show.
You guys are live every Monday night at eight Eastern. A Eastern. Yep. Perfect. Uh, and Smashmaster videos is where you find that. Smashmaster videos. Uh, you can want the live video or mostly on Facebook and YouTube, but we're also on Instagram and Tik TOK. Uh, and then the audio versions will be on anywhere you could find podcasts.
Nice. That's cool. So you guys are publishing the audio. You're taking on Apple podcasts and Spotify and all that good stuff. All of them. Oh, great. Yeah. That's cool. They're all available. Um, and your big social media is you break. I fix. Yes. Uh, your two biggest channels are tick tock and Facebook. Yep. Nice.
Yeah. It's a, the Facebook kind of, you know, just fell into place. The tick tock is where I put all my efforts and it's really where I got started. That's I consider it my main platform, even though now Facebook actually has me at a little bit higher following. Okay. But, um, yeah, yeah, it's been a lot of fun.
Nice. That's cool. So I actually got the meat stuff in. Uh, with a Kiko training. How many years ago was that? Do you [00:02:00] remember? Was it maybe like three years ago, three years ago? Okay. So three years ago, uh, walked into a shop in Connecticut and, uh, we started talking and this guy, like, he's like, man, I got a, I have a tick tock channel and he sets up his phone on his tripod.
And I'm like, Oh, I don't know, man. Okay. I guess we're on, uh, obviously you were super engaged. You had a blast. You made a really great video. Hmm. Of that training. It was like, it was a cool video. Who kicked the car? I did. You did. Okay. Yeah. You videotaped me kicking the car. So yeah, it ended up being quite a good video because you get that right in the beginning of the video.
Wow. The rest of the video. Exactly. Yeah. So that was good. So anyways, we connected a little bit there. I started following him on Tik Tok. Yep. Um, I think that was pre 10, 000 followers. I think it was like. 6, 000. Yeah. You were in talking to you that day. You're like, man, I've tried. If I can get to 10, 000, that opens up, whatever.
But you were working hard at it. I thought I'd be a millionaire. [00:03:00] No, but, uh, funny. It does that. Everything changes at 10, 000. Okay, cool. Yeah. If you're not following me on Tik TOK, you need to go. It's at auto appearance Institute. Cause he has way more followers than I do. Uh, anyways, so last week's episode, uh, I talked about social media and how everybody's doing it wrong.
It sort of talked to you a little bit about that beforehand. If you haven't listened, go back to episode 26 and listen to why you're doing it wrong. Um, so I feel like I might've been dogging on social media a little too hard. Last episode, uh, but go back and heed my warnings. Um, I wanted to bring Stefan on to talk about some of the tactics that do work for, for social and some of the things that, that help get viewers.
But more importantly, which is how you build your following, how to engage with followers. So what, uh, I guess. Maybe let's even just rewind. How did you get [00:04:00] started on social media? Like where as, as an influencer, not, I mean, like you've probably been on social a long time, but down that influencer route, what was your, what was your path to, to get started there?
Well, I, it wasn't my goal to be hit this status, this influencer status. It kind of fell into my lap. Um, once I hit maybe three, 4, 000 subscribers, I was like, okay, you know, maybe we got something here and I put some effort into it. But it really started just out of wanting to create videos to show off my talents.
That's really all it was. I mean, I feel like, you know, our, our auto repair fields can get a little bit, you know, of a bad name sometimes. So to, to bring to light to the public that it really takes a smart person in order to do like collision repair well, or paintless dent repair or something. It takes, it takes more than just coming in and just, just doing your work and going home.
You need to be passionate about it. And you need to have. Some ability and I wanted to bring that back and [00:05:00] really it was just for my friends and family, you know Right, that's all I was doing it for but then Wow, all of a sudden the following came I started getting messages from people Telling me that they learned a lot from my video and that added Wow, isn't that cool?
Like so as a so working for Kiko. Mm hmm. I always enjoyed helping people but like to actually Teach like to really make it a focus like purposefully teach somebody something Kiko sort of like I don't want to say ignited a fire. It let me see that fire that was in me to teach, man. There's nothing better than when somebody reaches back out or even live.
Right. They're like, yeah, I never knew that, man. You taught me so much. Yeah. That is, it's a great feeling. Feeds the soul. Yeah, it really does. It really does. And it was motivation to keep going. You know, not only that, but feedback, um, from, from the people in the start really designed my channel. You know, they said, Oh, I really like how you voiceover this [00:06:00] one and told what you were doing.
Oh, from now on I'll do that. Right. And I did. And the videos, you know, took off. Um, so I guess that's a big part of it is listening to your audience. Okay. You know, taking suggestions, trying things out like that. Right. Um, that helped me a lot. So you got started just to show off your work, which thinking back, that's how I started like, right.
It was just, I was just trying to showcase what I was doing with PDR. Like, Hey, check out this dent that I fixed. Right. That's super hard to do, but I figured it out. Right. You're proud of what you can do and you want to show somebody. I mean, it's in, in, you could call somebody and say, Hey, I fixed a really big dent today.
It's Oh, that's nice. Yeah. So when I started doing media, video content, YouTube was really the only place to put it. It was back when you could even share YouTube videos on Facebook and they would play. Yeah. It would just be like old school. Yeah. Uh, and I was just trying to show off my work and the YouTube [00:07:00] comments.
There's some haters on there, dude. Like, I guess my word of advice would be if you share on YouTube or really, if you put yourself as anywhere, you're going to get some bad comments. So just roll it off. They're just being keyboard warriors. No way to avoid it. Absolutely. No way to avoid it. Yeah. I mean, no matter what you're doing, people will tell you you're not doing enough or you're doing too much.
Right. You'll get, that's the other thing though, is that 90 percent of the people will tell you awesome. Right. Great. But your mind doesn't process and hold on to that. It holds on to the guy who says, Why did you take so long? I could have done that in half the time. Right. You know, All the time. Or the guy who said, It was, It was like, Uh, You know, either you're doing too much or too little.
So, Why'd you do that? And why'd you do that? And it took too much? Or, Geez, I, I wouldn't have fixed that. I would have just left it. You know, Right. Like that. And it's just, Yeah. You can't please everybody. Never. So if you're, if that's going to bug you, I wouldn't even try social media. You need to have a little bit of thick skin.
You do, you do. Uh, [00:08:00] so you really, so you started to showcase off your repairs and then you started to get some traction. Did you go right to TikTok first? Is that where you started? Mm hmm. Um The dancing app. Right. Yeah, exactly. What was it before? That was like Musical. ly or something? I don't know. I really found it as TikTok.
As TikTok. Okay. But it was introduced as a dancing app where people would stitch each other's videos and try and do the same dance as other people. Huh? So I never didn't download it for years. Well, right. Listen, I'm an old guy. I was like, I wasn't interested in Facebook. I'm a late adopter to all of that.
I feel like I adopted TikTok earlier than old, old Gene would. But still, I was not on there early. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, alright, so we're talking generally to a lot of technicians. Okay. And technicians, I don't know if you know this, can be really into tools and equipments and shiny things. Shiny things.
To spin that, to get started on social, to start making videos and [00:09:00] content that's engaging, do you have to go buy like this expensive camera rig and these crazy mics and what does it, what does it take to get started? You know what I mean? Like, what do you do? I still, to this day, only use my phone to do the whole thing.
From shooting, to editing, to posting, everything on my phone. It's all on your phone. It's simpler, because I have GoPros, I have cameras, I have a big, expensive, uh, Canon. I don't use it because then I, at the end of the day, I have to take the card out of it, load them to the computer, put them in an editing software, and I'm not doing any of that.
Listen, I'm already super bummed that we're doing this on site with my GoPro. And now instead of StreamYard spitting me out my video that's already done and my audio file and my transcript, I have to do all of this. Right. For that. Right. So I feel your pain. No, it's, it's, it revolutionized it. It revolutionized me.
And our phones are. A really good piece of equipment. I mean, there are really nice cameras built to the so right. [00:10:00] I've taught marketing and everything for years and been a, an influencer in the PDR space for a long time and everybody gets hung up and I'm like, guys, like, so I did professional photography back in the day.
We obviously do a lot of video. We have professional cameras. We put out professional content, but like at the end of the day, it blows my mind that in our pocket. We have a 4k high speed broadcast studio right here with a great microphone. Yeah, right. Like, right. It's it's insane. It's it really is. And you can add a microphone to your phone easily, right?
Right. That's I mean, these DJI mic twos are great, right? Yeah. So it's I do everything from the phone. So no, I would answer No, you don't need any fancy tripod is handy. Go buy a tripod. Yeah, but what's that? You know, you can get one off 20 bucks on Amazon, you know, right? Yeah. And I did find a 20 one I like.
So yeah. Yeah. [00:11:00] So one that one we've been using for quite a while is the smattery. So it's a little small thing. tripod foot with like a selfie stick. Great for repair videos because you can put it in front of you and that stays out of the way. It's one stick instead of the, yeah. I agree. I have a similar one.
Yep. So if you're going to do repair videos, something like that is a good one. You know, and, and if you plan on talking, if you're in a repair videos, generally in a shop, if you work with other people, it's going to be noisy. So the simple microphone setup. Would be a good idea, but it's not necessary. I found most of my stuff was better done with voiceovers.
Okay. We do that all during editing. Well, and especially in a shop like that's, and again, I've done tons of content in shops without fail. You're like, so when the next thing, you know, blowing up, yeah, it's just, so voiceover is a, is a great way to do it. Absolutely. Um, so no excuse not to get started. If you have, probably if you're listening to this podcast.[00:12:00]
You have a computer or likely a smart phone and you can, We're able to get to the podcast, so you know how to use the phone. You can, you can start, right? You can get started. Absolutely. Um, as you're, as it started to go, uh, and when we've touched on this a little bit, I hate when I do the conversation before the conversation, because I'm like, did we talk it before camera off camera?
But anyways, what's the best way to engage with your audience? What, what, what do you find drives the most engagement? And that can be. If you're doing live, that can be comments. If it's on just recorded and posted content, like most of it is, what are you doing to, to keep that social feel to your content?
So, I mean, with, uh, with videos, I mean, the first thing is you have to make sure that they don't scroll past. So you got to capture them in the first couple of seconds, stop the scroll with something that's going to be like, Whoa, you know, whether that be, you know, kicking a car, right, exactly. Um, [00:13:00] just something that's going to make them look further and it could be a hook.
Just as well as, uh, a question at the beginning of, you know, just read out loud on voiceover. Do you think we can get this dent out without repainting it? And people are like, no, you know, and then they watch the rest of it, you know. So, uh, that's really the best thing I can say about engaging. I mean, asking questions leads to Comments.
Honestly, posting something a little controversial leads to comments, you know? So, I mean, it's, uh, you're putting yourself out there for these hate comments we were talking about earlier. Well, that's why I try to be my last, last week's episode title. You're doing it all. Why are you doing it all wrong?
Like social media doesn't work. Like it's, I'm challenging the norm, right? Yeah. Same idea. And you have to, and that's what drives people to come in and leave their two cents. And that engagement helps a lot with, with views and everything. Um, [00:14:00] but when it comes to live, as we were talking about the, uh, I found that my ability to talk to myself really came through on a live.
Very good. Right. So if I'm working on a car all by myself, I might say, Oh, I need this. So I need that. I need to fix that. I need to push in that high, you know? So being live. I just treat it the same way. And I kind of just push that to the max and said, Oh, I'm going to tap down this high because it's trapping the metal here.
And no one's asking me the questions, but I'm answering the questions in my head. So there's actually a very unusual trait. Yeah. Like, yeah, it's weird. So Chris, well, it's not even just weird. It's a skill. So like, so Chris White with Kiko, we, you know, we spent a lot of time together, traveling a lot together, taught a lot together, like, and would.
So I always, when I'm working on, whether it's a podcast or teaching, like I'm always trying to hone my craft. I'm always trying to get better at whatever I'm doing. If I want to push it down, I want to push it down better from pulling. I want to pull it better from talking. I want to talk [00:15:00] better. So I was always open for critique and like, where am I shining?
What am I doing? Right. And it's always been natural to me, but he's like, man, you just have this uncanny ability to explain exactly what you're doing it, what exactly what you're doing while you're doing it. That. I have to agree, by the way, you are very good at that. So, that, again, back to our off camera conversation, maybe that's my superpower is being able to explain.
So, you're telling yourself what to do. Mm hmm. You're like, I have to do this, so let me go do this. And they're just, you have that dialogue going. Mm hmm. Uh, for me, maybe it's like, just explaining exactly what I'm doing and all the nuances that are going on in front of me. Yeah. And Yeah. Yep. That's interesting.
Not, not only that, but um, you know, you gotta be real, you know, you can't, can't be a sales pitch. See, I want I ag I agree a thousand percent. Mm-hmm . And I would [00:16:00] attribute a large part of my success to just being me. Mm-hmm . Like if you see me at a Kiko training, that's the same guy you see at, uh, trade show, right?
That's the same guy that's on a podcast like I am. I try to be genuine all the time because then there's no surprise. I don't have to have a character turned on. That is, that's a spectacular piece of advice. You, it is. And if that means making mistakes on camera or, you know, saying the wrong word or something, just embrace it.
You know, it's, that's what people, people want to see real. Yes. And you're the, like, from the time I met you at the body shop. So anytime I've seen you at a trade show or had a conversation on my phone, you're the same way. You're the same guy that's on your channel. That's I, I'm glad to hear that. Cause I, I doubt that in myself sometimes.
And I, something I make sure of. I do too. But no, you have been all, every interaction I've had with you, you've been the [00:17:00] exact same guy. That's good to hear. Yeah, that's, that's good. That's good advice. And it's also cool to hear that you're conscious of that and understand that That means something. Oh, 100%.
It was actually, so then, um, that was early feedback I got in my channel. So I got from actually a company. So when I was first trying to get these companies to see my content, I'm using your tools in my content. Check it out. Right. And I had a company get back to me and say, we'd love your content, honest, you're real, you know?
And. You don't see that and we want to see more right now. So, and that was awesome feedback. I mean, I remember it still, it was two years ago. So, I mean, that's my best advice. Well, and that's the kind of stuff that, so, so this weekend, Stefan is here at the cam auto booth. That's exactly the stuff that gets you in the booth with these great companies.
At shows, like it opens [00:18:00] up cool opportunities for you. That's how I ended up at Kiko. That's how, that's why I'm in the perfect pool booth. Like it's because we're genuine. Yeah, that's, I mean, I, last year Kiko sent me, brought me out for their five day training, you know, and, and more than I can mention, you know, I've just had the support of the companies that I respected because I worked with them through the videos, you know, I tagged them and got their information, but it's, it does.
It led to some cool opportunities in here, right? Yeah, right. Exactly. That's on this podcast. Exactly. I mean, we're kind of a big deal around here, at least on this channel. Oh, I'm just kidding. Yeah. Um, well, that's cool. So that's good advice. What, what are other ways or what? So I haven't done any of these videos, but I always enjoy them when you are making videos, when you're making content in response to comments.
I know where this is going. [00:19:00] Well, like what the. So I'm a, I'm a genuine guy. You are what you see. If you really get to know me, certainly if we go out and have a bourbon or two, there's a cynical side to it. I, I, I bite my tongue a lot, which is what intrigues me about some of these, these comment videos. Uh, so what, what's your strategy and tactic there to, and, and, and I'm sure.
If you are following anybody on social media, but certainly if you're following Stefan, you see the like the hater comments. Yeah. What, uh, so give me some, some, some tactics, some strategy. Does it just feel good? I mean, yeah, that's where it really comes from. I mean, these people are leaving hate and sometimes You know, a lot of times the hate is just, you can tell that the person is uneducated and it really doesn't matter and responding to them won't do anything.
Sure. So those you ignore. Sometimes you come by and some people will have some knowledge and you can tell by their comment that [00:20:00] you've got some knowledge and they come in and they say something kind of hurtful or that they say that you're wrong, you know, maybe it's not hurtful, but they just say that you're doing something wrong, right?
Um, if I could formulate a way to respond to them that did not cut them down, but proved myself right. Prove yourself right without proving other people wrong. Yes. Agreed. Agreed. I mean, you kind of are proving them wrong, but you're not being like, you're wrong because, you're saying I'm right because. If you haven't read it yet, and audience, if you haven't read it yet, one of the best books I've ever read.
That is actually may I just reread it might be like the eighth time. I've read this book. I know when I say read I mean listen, but read the book it is like a Handbook to dealing with people. It's how to win friends and influence people [00:21:00] by Dale Carnegie Dale Carnegie Dale Carnegie. I'm from Pittsburgh.
So You've heard of Carnegie Hall? It's not actually Carnegie Hall. It's Carnegie Hall. Because Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnet from Pittsburgh, that was his last name, and that's part of his legacy, is Carnegie Hall. But the New Yorkers, which is, I think, like, right over there, had to get all hoity toity and call it Carnegie.
It's Carnegie. But anyways, so Andrew Carnegie is the steel magnet. Dale Carnegie is the author of that book. I don't particularly care for the title because it sounds like you're going to manipulate people and it is not manipulation, but it's psychology. It's, I'm telling you, it's a playbook on human psychology.
You need to read it and what you just said there, like how to prove yourself right without talking somebody else down. That's like a playbook right out of that [00:22:00] kind of book. I can't recommend it enough. So, so your strategy is to come back. So only the ones that you can actually educate. Right. Cause they're like, you're an idiot.
You're right. It doesn't matter. None of those kinds of comments. But the ones that you can actually engage with. Your goal is to, I like that, man. So yeah. Say that again. It did make me feel better. It's, it's about, it's about not cutting them down and it's about proving yourself right without proving them wrong.
Man, that's good. That's uh, That's the words of wisdom right there. I'm going to give a little bit of shout out to discover leadership training. Cause that's where I, okay, that's strong. And I bet they got it out of like the Dale Carney. Oh yeah. So they, they borrowed things from a lot of people. I don't care.
And I've only heard good things about that. I talked to them. Yeah. They're great. I appreciate this, the sponsorship. I haven't gone, but I've only heard great things about, yeah, that's awesome. Um, what has been your favorite? Video like that. Do you have one that sticks out? Like, man, like maybe you actually changed somebody's mind and they [00:23:00] reached out and we're like, man, dude, you're right.
I'm an idiot. I hate to say it. That's happened a lot. Okay. That's good. I mean, it is good. I just, you know, I don't want to gloat or anything, but it has happened a lot. And, uh, I always give people credit. Because a lot of people just disappear. Sure. I mean, I put mine on and then they don't comment anything.
Honestly, that's a win, right? Right. Right. He just disappears. Like I won, but the, but the people who come back and admit that they were wrong, I give them credit. I say, listen, a hundred percent credit to you for owning up to it, you know, and having an open mind and this conversation, you know, and, and. It's just the same credit.
I do it to people all the time. Some people come on to my, my videos and they'll comment something, you should have done this. And you know, if they were in a way where it's not like what I just said, it's like, well, actually I like to do it this way. You know, I'm going, I'm going to try that next time, you know, and maybe it's no good, but you know, but it's another [00:24:00] way.
And there's always, so I've taught a lot. I still, almost every time I go teach. Learn something from somebody else. Oh yeah. Like so many times I learned stuff from my students, I will, and I don't care if it's a brand new guy who just started or like the guy who's been there for 45 years, they all have something they can teach me.
And I leave almost every single class learning something new. Like it's a, it's almost a goal of mine now. So like, what am I going to learn today? Yeah, I like that. I like that. No, it's. You have to be open-minded. Yep. You have to be able to learn. I mean, that's how I learned everything I know at this point.
Right. I learned from most of the time, especially in auto body, I learn from people I wanted nothing to do with Right. . Right. You know, so like, I have to be, I have to be friendly with these people and get them to teach me their secrets, you know? And, and I don't even like these people. Right. So it's, it's.
[00:25:00] It's, you never know who you can learn from. You have to keep that open. I always keep an open mind. I say the day I quit learning is I'm hanging it up and I'm, I'm, I'm done. I don't, I don't see when that's happening. Like, but the day that, that I think that I have nothing to learn or have no more desire to learn.
Right. I'm out, but that's the, that's the end of the game. Yeah. Um, what's along the favorites, what's been your favorite? Piece of content that you've put out. Like, do you have a favorite? You have one that's like, man, or, or what is there one that like made the biggest difference in your journey?
I can't think of anything in particular. What I really, I would attribute my favorite thing too, is my podcast. Okay. Um, the, the smash masters podcast, smash masters podcast. I'm going with Nick priest. Yeah. Um, I'm really having. A lot of fun with that because you're getting some great guests on there too.
Great. Not, [00:26:00] I mean, yeah, it's, it's, that hasn't really been hard. Everybody we ask is, yeah, it was a great show. I mean, you guys are great guys. Like you're putting out good content. Like why would you not be on the show being on the show? It's hard to see that though. So from my end, you know, we're just. We're just talking, you know, Just like this, this is just a conversation, like, You guys just happen to be sitting here listening to us talk.
Right, right, exactly. And that's what it is. So, I mean, from my end, it's like, Why are all these people showing up every week and watching? You know, like, I don't get it, but I mean, then I started listening to podcasts like yours, like some others and it was, and I got to, to realize why. But it's, it's just It's been fun just talking to people and getting to know people better.
I love people. I mean, I hate people sometimes too, but generally I love people. I love, I love getting to know people. I can relate. I can relate. Um, I mean, one thing I also point out is that the, the podcast, I mean, the podcast has maybe 500 [00:27:00] total followers amongst all those platforms. Sure. Yep. which we're very proud of.
Uh, and I've got 80 to a hundred thousand myself. Right. When we walked through MTE, it wasn't there's use break. I fix it was, there's the smash masters. Yeah. Isn't that cool. I had, I had so many people now I, again, been an influencer in the PDR space for a long time. So like a lot of people know me. Okay, dude, how you doing?
I'm like, Hey dude. Yeah. Yeah. Hey buds. Um, We experienced some of that at MTE this year. Yeah, but it's just, it's just part of, it's part of being a celebrity, Stefan. Um, it was cool this year to, to meet new people. They found me through this podcast. They were like, dude, I love their show. And I'm like, You like my show?
You know what I mean? Like, are you sure there's only like, I think we were right about episode 20 then. But like, yeah dude, I [00:28:00] enjoy podcasting. I'm really stoked for these live streams. So guys, uh, I think I teased it on the last show, uh, that I was going to try my first live stream. I did. Uh, it turned into a two part.
But on our YouTube at auto appearance Institute, we've got almost actually over three hours of streamed repair on that Ram bedside Really enjoying that like that was that's definitely gonna be a new Thing like I actually built a streaming table to do it so we can roll it out and set up the cameras and night I'll have to do a behind the scenes look you should you know, like different camera angles and monitors so we can put up the comments so I feel the I feel the podcast love and definitely mic up your helper, whether it be Mac.
Yeah, that's, and we're going to, yeah, definitely. Like sadly Dylan's leaving us, but, but just yesterday, uh, Sam. Our new guy accepted our [00:29:00] offer. We'll start in a couple of weeks. Awesome. So we will have a new Dylan, uh, and hopefully, uh, hopefully we can get him to engage as well. But on the second live stream, we did get, Mac was like, dad, you got a mic.
I want to talk to these guys. So he came around and he's really good on camera too. Yeah. Yeah. I think he was engaging with you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, he's, he's been doing really well. That actually really impresses me because he seems to be really on ease at super on ease. So, so we did, we used to do dance for kids.
Uh, this is all pre COVID. So post COVID, we've just gone to other dance for kids, like still love the charity side of things. But Mac was probably like, 12 or 13, somewhere before like the hormones kicked in and he turned into like the little jag off teenager, like before that. So we went to, uh, we went shopping.
So the way it would like, the way dents for kids works is like, uh, we used to be like donate money [00:30:00] and get a dent fixed, like donate 50 worth of toys, new unwrapped toys, get a door ding fixed. Like, and you would bring a bunch of dent guys in and everybody would do it. So what we found was. The Dent guys were actually bringing more gifts.
Then the customers. So we said, we're not doing any more free dance and we turned it into like just a fundraising party and like we were answering would send up tool trucks. PDR finesses brought stuff up like just a cool time. So in that, uh, we were going shopping. So we took some of the donation cat.
Like some people were just like, Hey, here's 100 bucks. There's 100 bucks. So I'm like, dude, we're gonna go to target and go shop. Facebook live is now a thing back then. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm like, you know what? It's for the kids. I'm like, we're going to go live and see what this is. See if we can do anything. So we go live and I'm, I've been comfortable on camera for a long time and we'll talk about how to do that in a minute.
Uh, but I go live and people are this [00:31:00] and they're like, Hey, what's your PayPal? I'll send you money. So we do it. And I'm like, Hey bud, here, you want to, you want to do the camera? Dude, he jumped on like a streamer on Twitch that's been doing it forever. Like, he just has a natural, he was, I'm telling you, he was 12 or 13 years old.
That's awesome. And he's like. Now come on guys, you don't want my dad to not be able to get that. You know what I mean? Like I'm like, where did this kid come from? That's awesome. So it's really cool now And then he went through the teenage years where he wouldn't do it Can I ask was when he was a kid, was he the one that went up to random people and said hi?
He's always been a outgoing Connecting like he's just wired. Yeah To like connect with people. That's great. That's just. So jealous of people like that. Me, dude, I, I'm an introvert by design. Like I want to hide in the corner by myself and fix dents. When I come out and do extroverted stuff and I hop up on a stage here at SEMA or something like that, and I'm talking.
That's a different dude. Like, I don't know, and then I'm drained at the end of the day. He is just, he's [00:32:00] good to go. Dude, check out this F 150. I'm not going to turn the camera on, but that sounds pretty neat. I, we're not going to race that. That's kind of sick. Nice big cowl hood on it. Yeah, cowl hood, lowered.
Yeah, that's uh. Somebody loves that thing. Yeah. Sorry. I got distracted. Anyways, he's been an actual for a long time. Uh, we will definitely Mike him up and go there. So with that, yeah, we talked about this. You're really comfortable on camera. Yes. You're really good on camera. Thank you. Feel like I'm okay on camera.
How did you get there? How are you? Are you a natural like Mac? Did you, did somebody hand you a camera and you were like, Hey world, it's Stefan. How'd you do it? I just did it. Just did it. That's it. I mean, I might've started my first videos. I wasn't talking on camera. You know, I was really just putting music to the background with some hyperlapse stuff.
But yeah, no, it [00:33:00] was, uh, I just did it. And the more you do it, the more you get comfortable with it. In the beginning, I was shooting videos and throwing out this take, throwing out that take, throwing out that take. Now, I shoot a video, I don't care, just post it, I don't even watch it, just post it. Um, so it's just about getting used to it.
And the other part is not only just being on camera, it's hearing your own voice. People hate that used to bother me and it doesn't bother me at all. Now, none, none at all. And it was not a lot. So you can get over these things. It is possible. You just do it. You just put the reps in like, and you just get better.
So that would, that's my exact same advice is like, pick up the camera and film and do it right. So it doesn't matter what people think anyway, just put it out and listen, your first videos, guess what? Nobody's going to watch them anyway. Nobody's going to watch them. So my first videos when I started like camera phones sucked.
So I had a little, uh, Canon [00:34:00] Vixia camcorder. The only reason I bought that one is it had a mic input, right? So I could cause I could have a mic, but dude, I would literally, it was like this. I'd have my camera set up on the tripod. And I had a whiteboard right behind the camera with like my talking points.
So I'm like, Hey, hi. Hey, hello. And then I'm like, and then I'm, you know, so if you go back and watch, my eyes are up and down to the whiteboard. Yeah. But you just put the reps in. If you guys, if you guys want to see how uncomfortable I used to be, go to, uh, at dent repair. Now that's my, that's the dent company.
Uh, go to our YouTube and go way back, like filter by oldest videos and they're not good. And I wasn't good on camera, but I just, just put the reps in. Yeah. If you can find it or buddy Jack with Sioux Falls dent repair. If you can go back on his YouTube and see how awkward he was and how fast he got good, it was the same thing.
His [00:35:00] first videos were, it will be like, they were horrible. We're all there. We're all there. Just do it. Right. Just set the camera up and do it. Yeah. And I also like your like, just set it up and let it record you working and then put music over it or do a voiceover after the fact. It's all easy to do on your phone.
Not only that, um, you can, you can voiceover just by typing captions in now and the voice to text to voice for you. You don't even have to use your voice if you don't want to even better. Um, if you pay for, I mean, I, my editing app costs like $20 a year. It's not expensive. What do you use? Fill Mora. Okay.
Fill Mora. Um, it has AI built into it. Now I read a paragraph to the app and now I can read captions out in my own voice. Oh, wow. I hit a button, it reuses my voice to read him out. I saw Danny Hacker, uh, at Hacker in the shop if you wanna follow him. I saw him do one of those and I was like, dude, how like, yeah.
It's pretty crazy. I mean, you can even have your avatar there as your [00:36:00] body talking. I don't have that. That's creepy. AI stuff. But I do use the AI voice over captions sometimes. It's, uh, it's, it's useful. Yeah. And that could be a good way to get started if you're uncompromising. Nice. That's awesome. That's really cool.
Uh, I guess any other parting advice or what would you ask you if you were interviewing you? About building your social following. Um, I would ask me how much work it took. I bet a lot. How much Stefan, how much work did it take to build your following? A lot. It's so much work. I mean, it was like another full time position.
So pretty much every day I go home and edit videos. And post. That's why I got a Dylan. Yeah, yeah, you know, you're good at delegating. You're very good at that. The, um, no, but it, it was, that's what I tell everybody. Everybody tells me, oh, I want to get, you, you got free boots. You got free tools and I want to get all that stuff.
I can make videos. They say, do you want to post a video every day? Right. Make and [00:37:00] shoot every day. And they go, no, I'm like, don't even try. Right. Don't even try. I still catch grief all the time. Oh, you probably got that for free. Well, maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. Like, but. I worked my ass off the amount of time you put, if you calculate my ass off the dollar amount in tools does not make it worth it.
No, you have to be passionate about making these videos and being out there. So it's just that that's doing the hard work is what gets the rewards. Exactly. It's that overnight success that nobody sees all the work leading up to the overnight success. People complain about people YouTube. It's like, you don't know how much time that person put into that.
Right. You know, so I mean, some people get lucky. Sure. Don't get me wrong. But most of them put a lot of work into that. Right. They deserve the money. Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. That's my final. I'll never fault anybody for success. Yeah. Yeah. But if you're going to do it, put the work in. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Cool. Just like anything.
Very cool. So if you're [00:38:00] not, if you're one of the like four people, not following Stefan, you break, I fix, and then check out the smash masters podcast. It's a great show. I've caught, I know I've caught all of them, but I've caught most of them. Appreciate it. That's uh, and now that I know you're, I didn't realize you were on the, the podcast channel.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You should promote that more. Okay, I will. Like, cause I didn't, cause so many, so many people that do the live shows don't. Or they're not good at putting it out there. But not enough, apparently. Yeah, so put it out there because I will, like, grab your show and listen and Awesome. And I love that you're in that crossover space too, in between PDR and Autobody.
No one else is doing that. Which is where we sort of live, is like, I'm heavier on the PDR side, but like, we're sort of playing, playing in both sides. But it's, it's interesting, uh, and really, Gloopal Repair is the bridge that has built that. Because forever we, we were too Industries that, that walk next to each other, but there was hardly any crossover.
Now there's all kinds of crossovers. It's really [00:39:00] exciting, uh, to be in that space. So anyways, go follow Stefan. Uh, dude, you have some great advice. This was a good interview, maybe even better than I hoped it would be. So that was cool. So guys, you can follow us at auto appearance Institute across all the channels.
Um, if you were listening to this, we are live on Monday. We are one week away from our level up training at my shop in Pittsburgh with John, uh, as of this recording. And I didn't check my email before this, we only have two seats left. Uh, it is going to be an incredible five days of training. You will leave a better technician, uh, autoappearanceinstitute.
com forward slash level up. Then if finances are tight, coming out of winter, been there, done that. We even had added an afterpay and Klarna option. So I think you can break that up into like four interest free payments. Uh, so that can get you trained and into the busy season before you have to pay it all the way back.
So, it's just a thought. I've had to do stuff like that in the past [00:40:00] myself, so we wanted to throw it out there. And, uh, drop us some comments. Follow me on TikTok. Follow the AAI on TikTok. Um, and, uh, keep an eye out for those live streams. Uh, that's, that's gonna be exciting. I'm hoping to maybe snag another one this week.
Uh, I won't probably have one during the training because we're gonna have our hands full. So, anyways. Until next time, thanks so much for watching. See you next time. All right. See you guys
