Evan Steger

Eric Girouard  0:00  

 This is bucket top, a weekly podcast where people who work in the trades and construction that aren't just trying to survive, but have the ambition and desire to thrive. The opportunity to trade and construction is absolutely ridiculous right now. So if you're hungry, it's time to eat. We discuss what it takes to rise from the bottom to the top with people who are well on their way and roll up their sleeves every single day. 

Jeremy Perkins  0:28  

All right, we're here with Evan stagger. Evan stagger goes by the Instagram handle Metro metal polisher, three, eight to six. I've been following your content for a long time. And it's it's definitely satisfying, you know, I've done it myself, and I don't care to do it. But for those out there that that love that, that clean, finished look and that satisfaction. This is a podcast for them. And luckily for me, most don't like it. So that keeps me in business. I like it. There you go do the things that other people don't want to do. I think that there's something to be said about that. But so I'd like to start it off. Let's let's get a basic introductory of Aven and where you're based out of your background, and how you got your start in metal polishing. So currently, I live in Chilton, Wisconsin. That's where my shop is. That's where my home is. 

Evan Steger  1:23  

I met my wife in 2002. I grew up in a little town called Campbellsport. It was a little town like 2000 people. Not a whole lot of industrial business. There are a few trucking companies, that kind of stuff. But I moved to Chilton here in 2002. I was already doing what I was doing with him, but my wife, she was the farmer's favorite daughter and didn't want to leave the area. So we planted planted new roots here in Chilton, not married for a number of years. Again, a couple, a couple of beautiful girls at home. But honestly, starting off in Campbellsport, like there weren't a whole lot of jobs you could do. So you either worked on a farm, or you went into town or worked at one of the restaurants or the gas station or something like that. So as soon as I get my work permit, I think it was like 13 years old. I wouldn't got my workers permit because I've been working on farms since I was 12. But when I turned 13, if you get a work permit, I went and started working at a local trucking company in town. They had a fleet of trucks with probably like 15, maybe 20 trucks. When I was there. They're much larger now. But when I was there, all the trucks be home every weekend. So all those trucks needed to get washed every weekend. And that fleet had a pretty nice group of trucks that were pretty cool looking. And I'd applied there, they hired me into work every weekend, we'd work every Friday after school, and then Saturday morning, Sunday morning, and just try to get a whole fleet done in the weekend, if you could, whatever was there anyways, and started working there started falling in love with semis. I had no truckers in my family. My dad was a welder for almost 40 years. My mom was a stay at home mom, she was a forklift operator when before she started having kids. So hard work and dedication was part of my life growing up, my parents were both super hard workers. So they push that into me and I, my grandpa lived on a farm. And he he was the guy I spent most of my my childhood with my dad worked a lot of hours to keep the bills paid so that mom can stay home and raise us and my dad, my grandpa put a lot of work ethic into me to the long, hard hours on the farm and, you know, picking stones and driving tractor and, you know, doing all the all the normal farm activities. But so I started off as a really hard worker, and I was always kind of hungry. I always like making money. So if I wasn't working there, I started picking up another job. There was a dump truck company that my mom had gone to school with the guy and the dump truck company also wash trucks. But they did that during the week. So I would I would go there and wash his trucks during the week. And then I would wash that fleet stuff on the weekends after school of course. And soon as I got turned 15 I got my work permit I driver's license. And the bigger city was like 30 minutes away was called Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. And my cousin was working at an industrial truck wash there were there was two days you could bring semis in and get them washed. And I started working there as soon as I could drive. The pay was better was more stable hours. I go there every day after school. And we worked every other weekend. So they were pretty flexible with their with their hours. And working there. I got in touch with a lot of really really cool trucks like it started getting out of control like some of the show trucks that would drive through there because it was an old school handwash so a lot of the guys came there. And every summer there was truck polishes out in the truckstop parking lot polish and on trucks. And I started seeing what they were doing and I was like dude, that's kind of cool like that instant gratification of watching a truck go from shit to shine or like say that on here but the Yeah, the shit the shine was pretty amazing to watch. And one of my buddies was into, into the truck shows and his dad had a truck. So we decided to polish his truck for the local show that year. And that was 98. And the guy want to want a bunch of trophies at the show. And I was hooked. And then I thought I didn't start polishing till 2000. I've been telling everybody 2000 But last week, one of my really good customers stopped by and dropped some parts off. And he's like, No, you polish my truck back in 98 already, and like, Oh my God, that's two years longer than I thought already. I've been doing this a long time. So 98 When that happened, I fell in love with it. I ended up working at that truck wash until 2005. But in the meantime, I was going to college. I was still working. I was polishing on the weekends, I was just a workaholic. In. So college, I was going to school to be an industrial engineer. I was also majoring in psychology. I got an apprenticeship for psychology, and I hated it. Because every time I talk to somebody, and they tell me how bad their life was, I would go home and feel for them. I'd feel bad for him. And I couldn't handle that. The industrial engineering, I got an apprenticeship doing that I got sick of sitting in the office all day. And I was like, this isn't for me either. And the polishing was still doing really well on the side. And I loved working at the truck wash and I'm I'm grateful this situation isn't the way it would have played out. But I had asked my boss for $1 Raise. And he had told me there wasn't any money in the wash and business wasn't that good. And I worked there like I was there all the time. I picked up all the overtime I could get I knew he was making money. Like I knew he was doing well. And minimum wage had gone up twice. And I hadn't gotten a raise. And I asked him for a raise. And he just said no, we just don't have it in the budget right now. And then the next day, he bought a brand new sailboat and came in with it. And I handed in my two week notice. And on the last day of my two weeks, the boss said to me, he goes, You know, when this polishing thing doesn't work out. You can come you can always come back. And that has been my biggest motivator of remembering that statement was that not if it doesn't work, it was when it doesn't work, you can always come back. And that was oh five. So an old five. I had quit my job at the truck wash started full time. I got married to my wife. That was June that I quit. We had just bought a house in like March. And we got married in August that year. And then the recession hit. Oh 809 It was it was some tough times but we hunkered down. I worked at a movie store for a couple of winters to just get myself through the winter because polishing. Yeah. 

Jeremy Perkins  7:57   

No, no, no, no, I'm old enough to remember. Um, but yeah, but I'm sure some of our listeners on it. 

Evan Steger  8:03   

Right, right. Polishing slows down in the winter. And back then Anyways, now we stay steady through the winter, our names grown enough that we stay steady through the winter and I got a lot of contract accounts that we do a lot of wheels for in the winter through our wheel machines. But back then you had to find something to stay by so you like a squirrel. You pack your nuts away all spring, summer and fall so that you can survive the winter or find a job in the winter to survive. And oh eight no nine was in tough times for everybody. Really? Yeah. And I remember, I've honestly never eaten ramen noodles. But I had a lot of mac and cheese and a lot of hot dogs sliced open and fried. Right? It was. It was some it was some troubling times. But we survived. Oh 809. And my wife was on the side. She was also working in nursing home. She was working at McDonald's. And then she went full time at the nursing home. We decided that we're going to start having kids. And we had her first. And I was I would get up early in the morning I would work mornings and then I would come home and take care of the little one in the afternoon and she'd go work afternoons we worked opposite shifts so we could survive. And all of a sudden my business just like exploded. And we were just super busy. I couldn't be home on time. It was a struggle because we were just so busy all the time. So we started hiring babysitters, and the babysitter thing wasn't working out. There was a couple of situations we ran into. And I told my wife I'm like, You know what? They kept cutting her hours at work and I'm like, why don't you just quit and be a stay at home mom for the amount of time that you're spending there and the little bit of money you're bringing home after we're paying a babysitter or daycare or whatever. I'm like I can work like two extra hours a day. Yeah, one week and make enough money for you to stay home. Well, we did that and instead of me working just two hours one day a week to cover salary. I started working 16 hour days and Then fast forward to I think it was 2000 Well, I got a tattooed on my arm 2013 2013 Put my daughter's birthdays on my arm so that my youngest, I bought my shop and bought my shirt. I 

Jeremy Perkins  10:17   

tattooed my tattoos my wedding ring but as the date on, so I 

Evan Steger  10:21   

gotta never forget a full sleeve on my arm. I got our wedding date, I got my kid's birthday, it's on there. So if I got to take them to the doctor, I know their birthday. Some terrible. Jeremy Perkins  10:29   Dude, that is the actually that's funny that you say that? Because like, I turned to my eight year old. I'm like, What's your birthday? What year were you born? Oh, yeah, the nurses asking. 

Evan Steger  10:38   

I always felt so terrible. I'm like, hold on. I gotta call my wife. I know what their birth date is. I don't know what the year is. I'm like, I'd never knew what the year was call my wife. And I'm like, I was sitting down with my tattoo artist when we're laying out my sleeve. And I'm like, You know what, I just want to put like a post it note right on my forearm, you know, with like, their birth dates on it. So like, I constantly remember it, you know? So we did it. It worked out really well. But so yeah, 2013 We bought my shop, which was like two minutes away from my house. And here in Shelton children's heavy industrial. Worthington cylinders is right behind us. They build all the Bernzomatic propane torches. Katy, which does all the birdseed and small animal foods and beddings and stuff. They're right here in town. Breeze industries who does all the malting for the big beer companies and they make the world's malted milk balls. That's all right here. And the world's malted milk balls, malted milk balls. Yeah, if you if you bought like Milk Duds or any of that stuff, right here, and 

Jeremy Perkins  11:38   

I'm surprised they're still being made. 

Evan Steger  11:40   

And most of your beers are here, too. You'd be surprised how many malted milk balls go out of this place. It's ridiculous. Really. It's crazy. And then MB company, if you've ever seen a snowblower or a sweeper at like an airport, or any the jumbo size, stuff like that they build all those right here, Shelton, Wisconsin to Okay, cool. There's a lot of industrial and it's hard to find help, because they all pay ridiculously good and smaller sides of the trades, like what I'm at, yeah, it's harder to stay competitive with these guys paying 4050 bucks an hour. You know, it's it's a struggle. But you know, 

Jeremy Perkins  12:15   

what, one of the takeaways that I had, and I can actually relate to and I want to get your, your take on it. So when you were at the truck wash. I actually, my first job in the automotive industry was working at a gas station. And I actually had a hard time leaving the gas station because I, I carved out a niche or niche for myself. I worked doing oil changes and stuff like that. And yeah, we get in like $11 An hour or whatever. There's no big deal. But my collateral duty was to go out to the pumps and pump gas and everybody showed up. So then I took it a step further and started washing windows. And now I was making more money and tips. Yeah, that was the job. And I'm like, I was just want to pump gas and the entire day versus being a mechanic. Yeah. Yeah. So that was kind of that was kind of a cool thing that like I made ends meet early on as a as a young person in the trades. And I don't know does that does that equate to your your your startup 

Evan Steger  13:14   

100% I was I was working second shift, because I had school. And then when I finally I graduated in 2000. And I was polishing on the weekends already. And I started having some of my guys that I was polishing for asking me if I could do stuff during the week. But they didn't want to do in the mornings they wanted to do in the afternoons when they were home, you know. And my tips were pretty good on second shift, because our shift was always short handed. And a lot of my regular guys that came through certain days of the week, like they were always tipping is really good. And I'm like, Man, I really hated to lose that. But our work was based on a commission base too. So like my base rate was, I think when I left there, I was making like 850 an hour, it was ridiculous. But if you're, if we washed X amount of trucks a day and made X amount of dollars, you would get either a 5% commission bump or a 10% commission bump, split it by the crew. And the crew was always shorthand. And so if we ever made commission, it was big money. It was decent. Yeah. But first shift made commission every day all day. And I was like, you know, if I switch to first shift, I'd have better hours, I'd be there seven to three every day. And then on top of that, those guys get the same tips plus they get their commission all the time. Plus, then it opens up the possibility to work in the afternoons. So I was like, You know what, I'm gonna do that. And I did a switch the first shift and the tips and the customers were what was worth it. Fast forward to now, a lot of those customers I had at the truck wash our customers I have polishing now. So a lot of those. A lot of those relationships that I made with those guys at the truck wash springboarded me into a better position when I went full time and started my own business. 

Jeremy Perkins  14:51   

Another thing that you said to that that I've seen it's it's it's actually kind of poor practice and for any business owners out there especially younger business owners, one of the things that that is discouraging as an employee, when, you know, they, an employer talks out of one side of their mouth and says, you know, we, you know, we're gonna cut your hours or no more overtime or what have you. And then on the flip side, they show up in a Chevelle or something, something absolutely nice. And it's like, you know, I, to be honest with you, I don't know what's going on in their life. I mean, it could be it's not cash poor, or any of that. But what I do want to say is, is that optics, right, so the perception from the workers is going to leave a bad taste. When it comes up civic 

Evan Steger  15:39   

can drive back and forth to work everyday. Hide it, I don't care, just don't flaunt it in my face, you know, 

Jeremy Perkins  15:46   

put the put the boat up, put the boat in the garage. But, ya know, I mean, and I've seen I've seen, I've seen it, and I've had the conversations with the guys. And I'm like, you know, you know, you're, it just is what it is, you know, I totally understand and, and some of the some of the, some of the employers don't actually realize what they're doing, you know, because they see what, what they're going through day to day. Yeah. And they may have things partitioned or what have you. But it does, it is a little discouraging, when you when you do see that. 

Evan Steger  16:18   

I had told my boss before I left, I said, you know, him and I kept a good relationship even after I left. And I said, you know, if you had just given me a 50 cent raise, I'd have probably stayed. And I'm glad you did. And I'm really glad he didn't, because it motivated me to just push myself even further. But honestly, he was never present. He only came if he was coming in to yell at somebody because somebody screwed something up, but he never came and worked with us. You know, if we were short handed, it was well, sorry, guys. You know, and I'm, I'm the opposite. Like, I have nice things. I mean, I've, I've worked hard to get my business to where I'm at. And I have a nice pickup, you know, I have, I have some toys. But at the end of the day, like I hope that motivates some of the people that work for me to continue to want to do better for themselves. I push my guys like I, I want my guys to keep doing better. And I want to I want to give them more money. You know, I'm, I'm the flip side, like, if you show me that you are worth and bringing in ROI return on investment. If you're bringing me back ROI, I pass that on to my employees every time my my ladies that ship product out for us. Their salary continues to grow and grow because they are doing more for me more customer service are answering my emails for me that are product related. answering more of the phone calls handling more of that stuff, like I push on a lot of our profits to the employees because without them I wouldn't have anything. And now I've worked. 

Jeremy Perkins  17:52   

Yeah. And then on the flip side, I assume you're one of those guys that you know, tough times the schedule is the first thing to go to retain some of your some of your employees. You know what I mean? 

Evan Steger  18:00   

Oh, yeah, no, I, I there was there was some tough years there. Even in the last couple years, there was a couple of tough times where like, business wasn't great. And I just, I didn't give myself a check. You know, like I I caught myself a check. Like every business owner should. And I work with my guy is like if you come by my shop and you get your truck polished. Unless I'm going on vacation. I am right there with my guys in the trenches. Scholarship seen it? Yeah, I'm sure you've seen the pictures of me completely covered in black. And I'm right there with my guys. So when when times get tough, it sucks because I go to work to pay their paycheck, you know, but at the same time, I know that they're what keeps this place going. And if I had if I had to sell my boat, or if I had to sell my bike or something I easily would to survive these tough times for sure. 

Jeremy Perkins  18:50   

Yeah. Yeah. And that's a I mean, that's, that's truly a valid, valid point and something that, you know, every business owner should take to heart 

Evan Steger  19:00   

I wish more did but because I think the I think this industry is headed in a weird direction blue collar is really frowned upon. And I don't understand why. And I'm lucky in the trucking industry. Because in the trucking industry, we love blue collar. Blue Collar is what made America you know, and this, I don't want to label or directly tag this next generation. But honestly, blue collar is so frowned upon because it's so easy to Shake your tail and only fans or whatever, to make money that they don't have to respect the blue collar anymore. And honestly, it worries me like if blue collar continues to die off, what is there to build the next generation? Ai Well, I don't know what that header is. 

Jeremy Perkins  19:48   

I had a unique conversation with somebody and I didn't like the answer. It was somebody I know from from back home and they were an excavator and I said, you know, I'm doing this endeavor this trades in construction Podcast, I want to bring more light to the trades and he goes, why? And I was like, what? And he goes, I, I want to, I want to I want to pick up the litter, you know, when I'm out there bidding a job, there's nobody bidding against me. He goes, when I could charge whatever I want, or there's no competition. And I'm like, I mean, it was an interesting perspective. I don't think that that's the greatest take on life. But yeah, it was it was an interesting, because here I am, as I talk to like minded people, and they continually say, like we have, we have to fill the labor shortage, you know, infrastructure is going to die off, you know, people aren't going to be able to build houses or, or get their vehicles fixed or what have you. Yeah. And here I am listening to this kid going. Oh, I mean, you do have a point. I don't know if it's the right point. But yeah, you do have a point. So 

Evan Steger  20:52   

I agree to some extent, like, I understand that. I understand the fact of not wanting to have to compete with people and being able to price what you're worth or overpriced what you're worth, either way, I understand that 100%. But at the same time, I have 12 local competitors in my area here within an hour of me. And I turned work away every day, every day. And I nobody, very few people price shop me anymore. Like they'll ask me a price just so they can kind of prepare themselves for when they're here. But rarely, rarely do I have somebody that like oh, somebody else said they do it for such and such like, I don't compete on that level, like I don't compete with what your pricing is I compete with myself and what I want to make every day. I don't care what anybody else charges if a guy down the street charges half my price. Or if he charges three times my price that doesn't weigh into what my pricing is, my pricing is based on what I want to make. So like, I don't know, I'm not in the construction trade. So I'm not bidding to compete against somebody on a job to build a house. So like, I can't relate to that directly. But in my industry, dude, I started my YouTube channel, March of 2014. And if you've followed my youtube channel at all, it is a straight how to channel Like, I literally teach people to do everything I do. Like, I don't hide hardly anything. And I don't hide anything on purpose either. I just haven't shown some things that I haven't realized, I haven't shown I, I think I have just shy of 400 videos on my YouTube channel. Some of them are our products that we launched our we launched our own product line. And some of those videos are just how to use our own products. But I would say probably 80 to 90% of those videos are literally me, showing people exactly how I do what I do so that they can do it themselves at home. So I saw the world differently. Like when I first started. Those guys used to polish in the truckstop parking lot. I walked up to one of them and asked them, like, how are you doing that? Like watching that shine happen? I was like, this is intriguing. And I asked them, How do you do that? And the guy was like, get bent. And I've talked, I've talked, I've talked to that guy years later. And I was like, why are you such a prick? He's like, honestly, I didn't want anybody in the industry. He goes because if you're in the industry that's taken food off my plate I'm like, right. I've never looked at it that way. Like I've taught, I've taught some of my local competitors like I also do a training program here at my at my shop. Like I will teach polishers hands on how to use everything they need to do to polish right. Everything from grinders, to pressure and technique to the business side how to how to treat your customers how to bid a job, that kind of stuff. I teach everybody everything. I'm a full hands on class. And I've trained some of my local competitors guys that are competing in the same market, the same fishbowl I'm in right here locally. And honestly, I don't see them as competitors, not because I think I'm better than them. But because I compete with myself more than I'll ever compete with anybody else. And maybe if I was like running out of work, it'd be a different story. But right now there's such an abundance of work in the industry I'm in the polishing industry is just, it's exploding, it's growing at an exponential rate even even fleet guys with plastic trucks are wanting their wheels polished. I mean, it's, it's gotten out of control. 

Jeremy Perkins  24:28   

Alright, so a question I like to ask is, are you where you want to be? Or is there another? Is there another level that you want to get to? And that could come in many forms. But 

Evan Steger  24:42   

you know, this moment right now. I am where I wanted to be. When I was dreaming about this 10 years ago. I am in the position that I wanted to be but now that I'm here I'm one of those over thinkers and my brain never shuts off. So now that I'm here, I've realized I'm only halfway to where I truly want it to be in life. So I'm in a good position, but I'm only halfway to where I want to be. And I mean that I'm in that slop struggle right now trying to figure out how to get to that next point again, because I'm Yeah, I wish I had gone to school and taking more business classes and more marketing classes and that kind of stuff. And I've kind of kind of niche myself into the marketing corner, like I'm one of the bigger follow metal polishers in the game. There's one other one that passed me a couple of years ago. He, he found figured out the algorithm and just blew past me. But other than that, like I'm, I'm one of the bigger ones. And I wish I'd taken more marketing stuff. Because I think the marketing and the business side is what's going to push me to move even further. And honestly, I've debated going back to like a technical college and just taking some business classes or some marketing classes just to kind of get caught up on the new stuff. I'm, I'm 40 years old, I just turned 40 last year. I'm not young, but I don't feel old yet either. So I don't feel like I'm dejected from social media. But following the trends of the algorithm every month is like, especially in the trades, like, like right now Instagram is pushing really, really hard. And it's like, Dude, I don't dance and shake my ass when I'm out in the shop, you know, like, maybe you should, I guess so that's what Instagram wants. But you know, I, I look at it, like, how do I get my business? Evans detailing and polishing or the time to shine product side? How do we create reels that won't water down my following that they're not going to still be able to relate to it. Because the industry that I tailor to is still older. The bulk of my polishing business still comes from Facebook, because a lot of the older guys aren't on Instagram, or Tiktok. You know, some of the new guys that are up and comers, they're on Tiktok and Instagram. So I have to have to build content for all three platforms plus YouTube still so 

Jeremy Perkins  27:18   
Well, it's interesting, because if it gives you a little peace of mind, as you know, I went back for schooling and business and marketing. What I found out was the business side was great like that, how to build a business and you know, the finance, the accounting, all that stuff is like, yeah, you got to know it, right? Understand the marketing. What I found out was behind the times, right, we were learning about surveys, and we were learning about, you know, billboard advertising and everything. So So actually, what you're doing is more cutting edge than then you're giving yourself credit for the social the fact that like, you're on social media and even giving it a go and, and been pretty successful at it. Now. It's just now it's network right now. It's now it's working with your network to say, Hey, how can I make this bigger? And to be honest with you, I mean, not that I'm gonna dissect your business because I have no idea what the fuck I'm talking about. But when it comes to like, Tiktok and Instagram, I feel like for us in the automotive industry, the Facebook is actually where we want to be right like that is that is where people will have reviews about, you know, the work we've done and what have you, it actually caters to that customer base. That's, that's really just trying to get on to the to social media. Yeah, I don't know how much tick tock would drive your business specifically, maybe the car care product side of things. But yeah, 

Evan Steger  28:47  

on the product side, for sure. It helps a lot. Yeah, but but 

Jeremy Perkins  28:51   

like your day to day like clients, and I don't think it would add up to a hill of beans. 

Evan Steger  28:57   

Yeah, honestly, I think you're right. And that's always been my concern is like, so I look at other. I don't I try not to bring any other polishers down at all. But I look at like, how many followers everybody has just to kind of get, like a gauge of what the industry looks like, right? And most polishers are, like 20,000 followers or less. And there's the one exception of like two other polishers that are in the hundreds of 1000s. But mine's like 56,000 or something like that. And it's not a small 

Jeremy Perkins  29:31   

milestone, by the way. No, it's not like and I'm sitting at like, 2800 and I'm fucking loving it. 

Evan Steger  29:39   

And I've been on Instagram for a long time, like I got into, I got an Instagram early, when it was easy to figure out like all you had to do is put in the right hashtags, and put you and put you in their search feed. And you were getting found really easy back then, dude, it was easy for me. I figured out the algorithm early. I built a good following early. And now a lot of these polishers just putting out reels nonstop one after the other, and it's just them polishing in the background with Gary Vee talking over the top or somebody else talking over the top of some inspirational shit and their stuff is all blown up again, 100,000 200,000 followers, and it's like, okay, the followers are cool, right? Everybody wants to see that big number. But at the same time, it goes back to what is your ROI? Like, how many of those people watching your stuff are going to convert to customers? Whether it's through polishing or selling product? or what have you, right? So, out of that 56,000, I can tell you how many of them buy product from me. And I can tell you, I can tell you how many of them come back on a regular basis to purchase product from me there, they become loyal customers. And you can usually tell by your likes, you know, and I try not to engage in unlikes too much because people can boost their posts and, you know, pay more money for more likes. But honestly, I don't, I don't do any paid advertising non. And I probably should, at some point, because it would help us sell more product. But at the end of the day, I wanted to see how organic our growth could be right. And we just launched our own product line two years ago. And it has exploded in since we launched it right at COVID, march 2020. And it just exploded, everybody. We are lucky everybody was cleaning stuff at home and doing stuff by themselves. And we sold a ton of product got a lot of people hooked and it worked out really well. But 

Jeremy Perkins  31:33   

that makes that makes a lot of sense. Because I mean, for the automotive industry, it was the challenge of how we go from the carburetor to, to the PCM. Right. So we have we've gone from mechanical to now we're using digital and, and computer computer programming to run the vehicle. Yep, a lot of people phased out right, that was just too much for them to comprehend. Right? Yeah. And now I think for businesses, you know, we're in the digital age, right? And now it's like, when the person from from the, from the town local papers like, Hey, you want to put Do you want to do the ad that you did last year? And it's like, I don't even know if it's worth it anymore, right? Because nobody, I mean, how many people pick up the Pennysaver or, or the uncle Henry's or whatever the thing may be in your area. And so now it's now your crossroads here is how do I how do I get to the next level? How do I advertise on social media? How to get my product out there? And I think that's a that's a that's a big challenge. I mean, but yeah, it seems like to some degree, you have a leg up. And 

Evan Steger  32:43   

I got I got lucky I got in early, I started my facebook page really early. Like I started it right away. Like if you scroll back through my Facebook stuff and look in like the beginning. Like when I first started publishing, dude, I left it all there. Like I know a lot of people that have deleted their old stuff because they don't want people to see what they used to do out there. Like if somebody takes the time to scroll all the way back on Facebook to the beginning, I was not a great polisher. Arguably, there's still people out there to say I'm still not a great polisher now. But in the beginning, I knew I was in terrible posture. I'll be the first to admit it. Like I'm there. I look back at my beginning pictures. And I'm like, I cannot believe people paid me to do that. Right. Like there was no schooling to teach people how to do what I do. When I started. There was two guys on YouTube that had a YouTube channel on how to metal polish. And if you watch those two guys channels, they weren't teaching you how to polish. They were scamming you into buying something like that's all it was. And I watched a lot of their videos and I'm like I can't figure out what they're doing and how they're doing that. I'm like, that really is what sparked me starting my own YouTube channel was if you go back to looking at it right now I started with 364 364 videos in my first video was a Hollywood undead concert but after that when I started posting enough like the actual how to polish stuff, but the first few videos are me just learning a new process and showing people me doing the process like there I think I had a GoPro Hero three, and I just set it on my chair so people could watch that right that wide angle frame. And yeah, literally, it's it's just me walking through my process with people watching in. Some of it wasn't great. Some of it turned out really good while I was doing it, but now in the recent years, I've started reshooting those old videos because now I have a better process and I can explain in more depth of like how what you seen in those old videos works now because now I understand the chemistry and the science behind it. I can break that down and explain it to them better. But yeah, there's there's some old videos that if you watch your life Dude, this guy got paid to do what he did. 

Jeremy Perkins  35:02   

Hey, but you know what? That's actually I mean, it's also humbling. It's, I mean, you should have seen my first welds you should have seen my first. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, there's there's stuff that I don't care to mention, but at the same time, I'm happy that I progressed from, you know, being, I guess a hack mechanic all the way up to doing it right and then and beyond. And that's a little discouraging, too, because as I as I watched some of these, these new these new up and comers, whether it be an automotive, whether it be carpentry, or whatever, and watch them get shredded for trying something new and doing it the wrong way. 

Evan Steger  35:42  

That's not the way we do it. That's not the way we No, no, don't do it. Don't do something new. That's not the way we do it. Oh, God, I hate hearing that. 

Jeremy Perkins  35:51   

I'm just like, why did you even take the time to dry? Like, I don't know, it bugs the crap out of me, because it's, it's now you're now you're sitting there discouraging them from posting again, right? Which, if there is, any good feedback like that could better their game to what now that third post or that third project they do? Is that much better? And it's wild. I mean, I mean, some people do deserve to 

Evan Steger  36:20  

put the tripod. 

Jeremy Perkins  36:24   

Well, I mean, it's some safety stuff or whatever. But like, I mean, I don't know how many times I've stood on the top rung of the ladder in a video and then people are like, Oh, it's an OSHA violence. Tell me you have never stood on the top rung of a ladder to do something. Right. Yeah. And I'm not saying it's smart. I'm not saying anything. I'm just saying that. You can say with all honesty that you were tied off. You didn't. Like, come on, man. 

Evan Steger  36:51   

I get I get people hammering me once in a while. They're like, Oh, my God, you posted that video without a respirator on. I'm like, Dude, I don't polish without a respirator on. I only do it in my videos. Like if I have to talk while I'm doing something. Or guys are like, I can't believe you're not using a handle. I'm like, So and so in their YouTube videos, they always use a handle because it's safer. I'm like, You know what, I wish you could go to a show and see that guy do work, because I've never seen him use a handle. Like, he does it for the video. So that looks better like cheese. 

Jeremy Perkins  37:19   

I've also got my hand. I've also got my hand wrapped up in a grinder and still did the same exact thing that I was doing prior to 

Evan Steger  37:28   

me to I I was I was polishing, I think it was the back of a tank. And I was just in the zone that day. And I like wasn't paying attention. Exactly. And dude, that grinder is trying to kill you all day trying to kill you. And I my cord was stuck on something and I gave it a little flick with my wrist. And that cord got caught in my buffer and it wrapped my arm up right by my shoulder. And I literally had the buff so close to my face. I can hear it like pulling on my hair at that point. And I yelled, I yelled over to the guy on the other side. I'm like, I need you to get over here right now because I couldn't find the plug in the buffers running like right next to my face. I mean, literally could cut my head off. But yeah, it's just one one simple mistake. And it was it was it was wrapped up so tight. My arm was like pitching back, and I my arm turned blue instant, like there was no blood flow at all the cord had wrapped so tight. I couldn't move as they had to take the buff, spin it off, and then bring it down. And I'm like, Dude, no matter what I'd have been doing, I could have been holding a handle I could have had, you can't have safety guards on the grinders when we're doing now. So like first thing that comes off? Honestly, I I wonder, like, I hope this doesn't flag it. But I often wonder like what OSHA would think about a metal polishing shop, because you can't run a safety guard over the buff, like the safety guard would hit and it would hit the buff and it would hit the part that you're working on. 

Jeremy Perkins  38:55   

And you know, and you know what that would do that would actually increase time because now you're unbolting every part to to polish it. You know, 

Evan Steger  39:02   

there's a lot of stuff you can unbolt, you know, it's a lot of stuff that, like I'm not 

Jeremy Perkins  39:06   

the fuel lines off a tank that's been on there for 20 years, you know, 

Evan Steger  39:10   

no shit, right? I mean, it'd be crazy. But yeah, it'll be interesting when that time comes. But for right now I'm pretty fortunate. 

Jeremy Perkins  39:19   

Awesome, awesome. So good luck with the social media endeavor. And obviously the network is is really where it's at just learning, learning from other people what their, what their next move is and how they do it is crazy. So as you as people watch your metal polishing videos, you should watch their marketing. 

Evan Steger  39:36   

Yeah, I'm gonna start for sure. 

Jeremy Perkins  39:40   

But hey, nuff of work outside of everything. What? How do you unwind? 

Evan Steger  39:48   

Oh man, I I love riding motorcycle. It's one of my it's one of my go twos in the summer. Like I got two different bikes. I have a a sport bike and I have a cruiser. You To my oldest daughter she loves going on. On cruises, she just loves going on rides my wife she gets nervous when we go out on the highway and stuff but my oldest did she would ride on the bike with me for 1000 miles I may actually take her on a trip this summer just her and I go out on the bike for you know a week or something and just go on a ride but I have a sport bike to one Orion by myself. I love the adrenaline hugging curves and going fast and sport biking is fun in the winters are primarily my slower time. So I get to do a lot more on my unwinding in the winter. I'm stuck in the office like all winter long we do polish a lot of wheels and I'm still out there but in the winter is when I do most of my my social media stuff and try to get myself set up for the year but I was trying to take one trip in the winter. I started doing deep powder snowmobiling. Dude, it is one of the gnarliest things you'll ever do. Like I I truly love it. Yeah, so I always go with a guide so that they keep you out of the like avalanche areas and stuff but next year, I'm going to go to Canada to Whistler I watch everybody snowmobiling Whistler and it looks like the coolest place on the planet and I'm gonna go next year I'm gonna go ride in the mountains out there 

Jeremy Perkins  41:21   

it's wild that you said that because my Hey guys so I actually live on a farm but my hay guy comes from Canada and he said he was out doing the powder stuff and he goes you know, it's literally one wrong move and you're done. I mean, I don't I like I will make that wrong move. So I don't I mean, like, just talking about like, like close to trees that there's actually not a lot of support there and you could be eight feet 10 feet down and machine on top of you. I don't know the big ones you got. 

Evan Steger  41:53   

We've been we've been in some pretty sketchy situations but it was never anything that I was like, Okay. I feel uncomfortable like this feels unsafe. I went to Tony Lodge which is in the Tetons. And I went there three years in a row with a group of buddies. The first year I went in khaki as all get out. I was like, Dude, I I've written everything power sports, like I've written snowmobiles my whole life. I've written jet skis, boats, cars, fast cars, fast bikes. I was like this is gonna be fine. Powder can't be any different. I went through that first year and looked like I was ill prepared. I was nowhere near ready for the learning curve I was about to hit. Dude, I had so much fun. The first year I was not great. I finally figured out how to turn like the last day and finally got to enjoy like the last day. And then the second year I went out I got even better, had a lot of fun. rode hard, got myself into some tricky situations and managed to get myself out that was a lot of fun. And then the third year duty it was a whole other it was a whole other ballpark like I was doing stuff getting into places that I had probably no business being in but dude it's it's so much fun. Like there's a ton of horsepower long track in the snow sucked that year like we there wasn't great snow out there. And the last day we finally found like a really nice chunk of powder that we can go and play in and we're climbing hills and carbon in between trees and having a good time. But yeah, Whistler I noticed there's a whole nother beast, but at the same time I really want to climb a mountain sometimes it'd be it'd be a lot of fun. The highest I think I've been elevation wise, like 14,000 I think is the one day we were at like 14,000 at the one point we were at. 

Jeremy Perkins  43:39   

Nice. That's crazy. Yeah. Good luck with that. 

Evan Steger  43:44   

You should try it sometime. Next to skydiving. It's one of the biggest adrenaline rushes you can take 

Jeremy Perkins  43:51   

it to things I don't want to do now, but that's that's awesome. I mean, anything that keeps a blood flown, right, dude, I've 

Evan Steger  44:00   

gone skydiving eight times. I think it's either seven or eight times. And every time it's just, it's a whole nother rush. Like I, my wife and I took my parents to home. And I decided one morning we're just gonna go get on a plane and jump out off the hallway. And dude, it was the most beautiful thing I've ever done in my entire life. It's crazy. It's just a whole nother rush. 

Jeremy Perkins  44:23   

All right, well, that's awesome. We have gotten to know Evan and the metal polishing all the way through to skydiving in Hawaii. Is there anything that you want to plug at this point in time? Where they can find you for training? Where they can find your product? Let me know. 

Evan Steger  44:42   

Yeah, um, go shanann.com is where we sell all of our products. Our products are called Time to shine products. We develop them ourselves and they're all based on what I needed to run my business and what I needed to survive in the business and I wanted quality stuff that I wanted to use in My shop physically every day, so everything is ever on Goshen on.com, my YouTube channel is youtube.com/evan stagger metal polishing, that's Ste je er, metal polishing. And I heard you say earlier that you were you were in the military. I was I started a charity. Want to say eight or nine years ago, I myself didn't have the balls to join the military. I was a lot of people would call it a word that starts with a P. But I was I was not built for doing the military. And I have a lot of respect for the military. And my industry is a luxury. And I understand that not many countries get to do metal polishing, because they're not in free countries. They don't they don't have, they don't have those free trades that we have here. Because the government the military gave us these freedoms, right. So I started a charity. It's called babes and big rigs. I take pictures with pretty girls with semis. And we use the money to raise money in our area for wounded veterans in our in our own community. Over the last eight years, we have gotten 100 families back on their feet that have come home from anywhere, I don't care if it was Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Iran, any of those, if you came back and you live in our community, and you needed help to get back on your feet, whether it was get your house payments covered, or pay off some bills to get yourself back on your feet. Our charity has done that and we've helped men, we've managed to help get 100 families back on their feet. And honestly, I wish, I wish more people would give back to their communities and help their surrounding communities because you'd be surprised. Like I've had some veterans in our area that needed $1,000. And it changed their life, or $3,000. And it changed their life. Like you don't need huge sums of money to help some of these guys get back on their feet. And I respect you and thank you for what you did for us and what you're continuing to do now. 

Jeremy Perkins  47:05   

Well, hats off to you. I mean, support comes from home and we wouldn't be able to do what we're doing, whether it's home or abroad. And, you know, Thanks for welcoming, with open arms when we come back. And sometimes it's not easy, but it's a true testament to people like you that. Potentially you'll give us a job when we come back. It's 

Evan Steger  47:27

100% Blue Collar is always hiring. 

Jeremy Perkins  47:33   

That's it. That's it. I'm sure you get some good metal polishes out of

Evan Steger  47:36 

there. But But sooner or later, yeah. All right. Well, 

Jeremy Perkins  47:40   

this is the end of it. Evan, thanks for being on and, you know, good luck with your future endeavors. And thank you, 

Evan Steger  47:47   

I appreciate you having us on. And as a special thanks 

Jeremy Perkins  47:49   

to our loyal listeners. Were giving $10 off your next purchase of $60 or more at brunch workwear.com Use Discount Code bucket talk. That's bucket talk. 10