S&YE163 - Circuit Demon

[00:00:00] Hello, this is Jeff from Circuit Demon, and you're listening to episode 163 of the Subie and You podcast. Yes, yes. Welcome to another episode of the Subie and You podcast. As you heard, I have Jeff from Circuit Demon on the podcast today.

[00:00:28] If you don't know what Circuit Demon is, you're about to find out. It was great getting Jeff on the podcast finally because he emailed me quite a while ago, and we just kept missing connections and finally got connected and made it happen.

[00:00:45] So here we are with this episode, and I hope you all enjoy it. It's of course, you know, something a little bit different than having somebody on who's just a member of the community out there hitting the trails and hanging out with people, but

[00:01:00] I think he's got a really good story, and I'm excited to share it. I can't believe we're already in March. This year is going by pretty quick, but I'm excited because spring break is coming up

[00:01:12] and I'm going to spend some time with my son in the latter part of his spring break. So I'm really looking forward to that because it's going to be a good time.

[00:01:20] I am going to take my son to see something he has never seen, and we are both going to do something that we have never done. So that'll be a lot of fun. The Subie and You podcast is brought to you by Eccentric Designs.

[00:01:35] For those of you who don't know, Eccentric Designs is a small community driven business that offers custom fit vinyl overlays for most Subaru models. This includes various designs for the rear reflectors, taillights and side taillights. I also offer fun decal designs like the popular fender stripes and stickers.

[00:01:52] To find designs for your Subie, head on over to eccentricdesigns.com. There's always more projects in the works, so be sure to follow at eccentric.designs on Instagram. Thank you, Eccentric Designs, for sponsoring this Subie and You podcast.

[00:02:07] Very much appreciated and a very great product and a great friend. So go show her some Subie love by giving her a follow if you are not doing so already, and check out her decals on her website because she's got a lot of great stuff there.

[00:02:23] All right, I'm calling out to all of my Apple Podcast listeners. If you have not rated the podcast and written a review, please go do that. We have 97 ratings right now. Not as many reviews.

[00:02:38] I haven't counted up the amount of reviews, but if you listen using Apple Podcasts, I would appreciate writing a review. And of course, I will read it on one of the episodes. So go let me know what you think and let others know what you think as well.

[00:02:56] Thank you. This episode is brought to you by SubaruGear.com, where you will find all sorts of Subaru-branded merchandise. You will also find the various collections that they offer, and you can find Subaru Motorsports USA-branded merchandise as well.

[00:03:15] As you browse through the site, it looks as though there is something for everyone. You've got your motorsports lovers. You've got stuff for kids, stuff for your home, stuff for your car. So they cover just about everything.

[00:03:28] And Subaru Gear was nice enough to extend the great offer to all of the Subienu Podcast listeners of 20% off your purchase. So if you use the code SUBIENU24, you can get that 20% off. And remember, if your total is over $50 after the discount, you will get free shipping as

[00:03:50] well. So go browse the website, SubaruGear.com, see what they have to offer, and check out all of the collections. And just browse through and find your hat, find your shirt, find your hoodie for this brand and this car company that we all love.

[00:04:08] Thank you so much, SubaruGear.com, for sponsoring the Subienu Podcast. I have another patron question of the week, and this one comes from Anthony who goes by ChewyRoo. He asks, do you now or have you played video games and what are your favorites? I was... Oh man.

[00:04:28] That's tough. I mean, I don't play any games now, but I have played them in the past. And one of my favorite games to play was SSX Tricky on the original Xbox. And I still have the game. I still have my original Xbox, but it died.

[00:04:47] And that game was so fun. I'm willing to pay some money for an original Xbox just so I can play that game. Because me and both of my kids absolutely loved that game, and we would play it for too long. But it was definitely a lot of fun.

[00:05:05] There are two other games that I really, really liked. And when my brother went into the Navy and he went to boot camp, he left his PS2 and he left all of his games.

[00:05:17] And the two games that I played the most, which I had so much fun playing, were ATV Offroad Fury. I played that game so much. And the soundtrack to that game was really, really good.

[00:05:28] Of course it was old and the graphics weren't that great, but the game itself and the gameplay was just so fun. And then the other game was Gran Turismo 3. He had that for his PS2. And I played that game so much.

[00:05:44] I had so much fun with both of those games. I miss them. I would buy a PS2 and those games just to play those. I know there's a lot of really great new games, but we don't have an Xbox One.

[00:05:59] We don't have whatever the new Xbox is or the newest PlayStation. We just have the Xbox 360. And my son will still play some games, but we don't play video games too much. And I've never really been a gamer. But those three games, I absolutely love those.

[00:06:19] And then there were some old, old classics from back when I was a kid like Space Invaders and Galaga. I think those two were some of my... I think those were my two favorite games back in the day when the Atari first came out.

[00:06:35] So thank you so much, Anthony, for your question. I hope that I gave you a good answer. Thank you. If you are in the market for some new wheels, go check out RykoWheels.com. They have a great lineup of wheels.

[00:06:49] You can find the Drifter, the Detour, the Tetons like I have on Pearl, and of course the Seeker. There are quite a few pretty epic Subarus out there sporting some Ryko wheels. And of course, Ryko is committed to providing you with the highest quality specialized wheels.

[00:07:09] They also have lift kits, and that combination or one or the other will allow you to travel further, experience new adventures, and discover all of those extraordinary destinations. And of course, Ryko wants to make sure that you are ready for anything wherever adventure takes you.

[00:07:28] The quest for adventure begins with you, and Ryko is what gets you there. Be sure to use the code SUBYU10 at checkout to get 10% off a set of wheels or a lift kit. Thank you so much, Ryko, for sponsoring the Suby and You podcast.

[00:07:44] So of course it's March already, then it's going to be April, and time is just going to keep going by really fast. Next thing you know we're going to see Halloween stuff out, Thanksgiving stuff, and then Christmas. Before we know it, time is just going by too fast.

[00:07:57] Let's slow it down somehow. I don't know how, but yeah. You know what? Let's just enjoy the moment. Let's enjoy every day as much as we can, and do the best that we can to get outside and

[00:08:10] just have fun with our friends and enjoy this life the best that we can. This episode is also brought to you by Mele Design Firm. Be sure to go check out meledesignfirm.com and browse the Rally Spec and Subaru sections

[00:08:25] of the website where you can save 5% off your purchase by using the code SUBY plus YOU at checkout. Mele Design Firm has a lot of great products for your Subaru, so be sure to check out meledesignfirm.com,

[00:08:41] and if you're not doing so, go give them a follow on Instagram and check out their content. They've got some really good content. So thank you so much, Mele Design Firm, for sponsoring this Suby and You podcast.

[00:08:53] Now we'll get into this episode with Jeff from Circuit Demon and hear all about this great little company that he has started. Here we go. Hey, man, how's it going? Good. It's been a weekend. Not a bad one, just like a crazy one. But it's going good.

[00:09:25] That's good. Yeah. It's great to connect with you. It was nice that we had a chance to chat before the podcast and kind of get to know each other a little bit and finally make this happen, because I know you messaged me quite a while ago.

[00:09:40] It was like a year, year and a half. So I know I saw your second email, and I was like, I probably should get back to him. Because I got the email, I think, the first time, and I saw it maybe when I was busy

[00:09:53] doing something else and then just kind of forgot about it. Because I have people message me on Instagram, and then they'll message me again. And I'm like, oh crap, I totally missed this message. It came in like three months ago.

[00:10:06] So I feel bad whenever I miss stuff, but we're here now. That's the important part. Yeah. I think the hard part too is all the different types of ways people can communicate nowadays. It's like Instagram comments, DMs, Facebook, email.

[00:10:24] And I think the hard part too is I'll get redundant. I'll have people hit me up on two or three, and I'll be like, oh, I'll hit them back later on this. Yeah. Yeah. I get that. But yeah, I'm glad we're here. I'm glad we had a talk.

[00:10:37] It was an interesting conversation this week we had. It was good. Yeah. And I'm ready for it. Put the pressure on me. Yeah. Well, I'm going to put the pressure on you right now because the first question I got to ask is, do you prefer waffles or pancakes?

[00:10:51] So I prepared for this. I have to admit. So we talked the other day. I have two kids. I have a four-year-old, Miles, and a two-year-old, Mila. And they are... He is such a picky eater. He likes breakfast food all the time.

[00:11:05] So I used to prefer pancakes, but I've made so many pancakes over the last four years that honestly, I'm kind of leaning towards team waffles now. Yeah. Well, at least we're team pancakes for a while. Yeah.

[00:11:20] So I take it you are team pancakes based on what I've heard. Yeah. Yeah. Gotcha. Yeah. And there's just... Because I think what really does it for me too is there's this restaurant up in Denton,

[00:11:30] Texas, and when they make their pancakes, it has this really nice crispy edge to it. And that just makes the whole pancake for me. Soak it in grease. So much better that way. Yeah. But yeah. And so I mean, and not that I don't like waffles.

[00:11:46] I love waffles. I love Belgian waffles. And I get people say, oh, but with waffles, you can fill up all the little cups with syrup and butter, which is true. I mean, I'm not denying that, but I just like pancakes a little bit better.

[00:11:59] I like how you approach it scientifically. That's important to me. Yeah. So what is Circuit Demon? Oh, man. Pretty much been my life for the past decade. Yeah. Circuit Demon was my opportunity to push myself into the automotive professional world, I guess. So for me, it was...

[00:12:22] I've been into cars. I was definitely one of the Fast and Furious generation. I was one of the people that watched that movie and just got totally enamored by it. And I had a friend, Josh, in high school who was really into cars.

[00:12:34] His parents were very supportive of that as well. So it was good. He really taught me a lot. He's more into the American Muscle side of things. He actually worked for NASCAR right after high school. Yeah. Yeah. Really, really cool stories that he's got.

[00:12:49] But he actually does a lot of overlanding and off-roading now, which is funny. Oh, that's cool. I like that. Yeah. It's like an exoskeleton Jeep. It's not a Wrangler. I don't know what they call it. It's like the FJ and there's all sorts of different chassis codes.

[00:13:05] But yeah, I think for me, that's kind of where I started with the automotive culture and just working retail. I worked retail for close to 15 years. And it was kind of... I don't know. I got really into cars. I started to make a lot of connections.

[00:13:20] And I wanted to find a way. And I've always been pretty artistic. So that's kind of where the custom headlights came from. We started doing custom headlights. I will talk about our origin story and why we chose the name Circuit Demon in a minute.

[00:13:33] But yeah, I would say Circuit Demon, it started off with that, like a passion project turned into a really fun way for me to have an expressive outlet within cars and meet a lot of great people.

[00:13:48] I think that's the big thing that I've taken away the last 10 years of doing this is just the people that I've met, customers, even if I've talked to people like once or twice, but just the personal connections that they have with their cars and that we're able to

[00:14:00] enhance. Or like the hearing people's awards or accolades that they've gotten. And obviously, they do a lot of the work themselves, but telling us like, hey, I think your headlights really popped off what I was trying to go for with this car. Yeah.

[00:14:14] And so I guess you're the sole founder of Circuit Demon. And like you said, it started off with headlights, custom headlights. And then where did it progress from there? Yeah, so adjacent to Circuit Demon and doing headlights, I've always been like into like performance modifications.

[00:14:30] Before I ever modified the headlights on my car, I had like a rotated turbo setup, like 400 horsepower. And yeah, I would say that's kind of been a big part of the background. The whole time we've been doing automotive headlights or automotive lighting is just more

[00:14:46] like the performance of wheels, suspension, understanding what components work with others and which ones don't, more importantly. And I think for me, it was just talking to customers, especially like big shows, like a big meatbox or fest.

[00:15:01] We'd be talking about lights and they would start getting into like wheel fitment or suspension choice or like their power goals. And then I would just like love talking about that stuff. So I realized a lot of people either get like conflicting information, or they're really

[00:15:15] just trying to go about it like themselves, like trying to do the research themselves, but not like really proofing it with somebody like a tuner or a shop. So I'll see people like start to buy parts for their car or like select wheels that are

[00:15:29] an expensive endeavor that won't fit at least the way they want them to. And then they only realize afterwards that they spent all this money that it wasn't the right choice. And it's a hard lesson.

[00:15:40] But I think for me, it was like seeing an opportunity to have an impact on those people and be able to offer just more information. So yeah, we took the turn two years ago to import work wheels.

[00:15:51] We did like a big order of work in bulk through our distributor. And all the stuff we ordered was like the nine month wait, especially through COVID. It was such a long wait.

[00:16:01] But the reason I wanted to do that was like, I know I always wanted these wheels for myself, but I've never, I just never wanted to wait that long. So for me, it was like, let's get these wheels, like all Subaru fitment sizes.

[00:16:14] We sold a lot of them pretty darn quick. And they're all like custom color, some three piece ones. And then I think based off that experience, it's kind of led us to the pivot that we

[00:16:25] recently had this past November, which is more towards the performance stuff and kind of getting away from lighting temporarily. But yeah, I would say that's kind of the trajectory that we're currently aligned on.

[00:16:36] So when you were just doing the lighting, did you have a shop where you were doing those the lighting and was it just headlights? Or are you doing other types of lighting as well?

[00:16:44] Yeah, so when I first first started, I was still living in Northern Virginia, like Arlington. Shout out Novosibirsk. Shout out Mach 5. Yeah, so like, I think with that, I was living in an apartment complex, we had a parking garage in the basement.

[00:17:02] So what I would do is I would work my day job. And then every weekend, I would take on like one or two sets of headlights. So what I would do is I would bake them in our oven in the apartment, I take the parts

[00:17:13] to the basement, I was paint them down there. When no, like two in the morning, and it did that for like, probably six months. And then we decided to move back to where we're my now wife and I are originally from Rochester, New York, near Buffalo.

[00:17:30] And I just want to keep doing it. So same thing an apartment there, I just do it in the basement. Like when this is not a professional level, it's just like a spamming myself on Facebook

[00:17:40] marketplace. And then from there, we we kind of buddied with a few shops for a couple years. There was a detail shop, RTA Auto Salon locally that in the winter, they get like slower. It's just kind of part of the business.

[00:17:53] So we rented out like half their shop or part of their shop. There was another shop that had like overflow bays down the street, ready imports in Rochester. So we rented out and then finally, we rented out like our own full like standalone shop.

[00:18:08] And man, that was probably like five years into doing it. Probably four or five years into doing it around there. And yeah, that's when we actually like have like our own shop, like, you know, all the bills for it. All that stuff. Yeah.

[00:18:22] Yeah. So is that where you're at now still? No. So man, I feel like it's been a lifetime. So that was like right before COVID. COVID hit, crazy for everyone, right? Like very unsure what was going to happen.

[00:18:36] We had myself and two other employees on staff at the time. New York state was like pretty heavily shut down just because I think more so because the city. So I would I would have like my one employee that worked on headlights come in during the day.

[00:18:52] I would work at night like opposite of him. And then our email and communications person would just work from home for a few months. And then we just got like when stimulus hit and people were sitting at home or bored.

[00:19:04] And I think everyone in automotive knows they either spent the money or like we're on the other end. We just got inundated with orders, like more than I ever imagined.

[00:19:14] And it was one of those things where we just got like backed up fast for like a two-person team. And we were getting like probably three to four headlight orders a day. Wow. We scrambled to hire people.

[00:19:27] So we hired like we more than double that, we had seven people within like a few months. Getting product was like impossible, like full like core headlight sets. Yeah. It was like impossible. We ordered 100 just to have them in stock, like 100 headlights.

[00:19:42] Like we didn't have anywhere to put them. And because of that and all that growth, we needed like a larger shop. So we moved into a shop like twice the size two years ago.

[00:19:52] And then, yeah, over the past two years, we kind of wanted to make this turn. And we moved in November, which it should be like the last move. But this space is with our new business partners. It has five lifts.

[00:20:06] It has a brand new dyno that we bought, alignment rack, tire machine. Like it's pretty set up. So I think at this point, I don't see us having to move again. If we do, I don't lose my mind. Yeah.

[00:20:19] I mean, for the direction that you said that you want to take, it sounds like what you've got in there is going to be good for what it is that you're wanting to do with Circuit Demon now.

[00:20:29] But like so going back again to the beginnings of it all, like you started off, you know, in the parking garage in that one spot. And then now you've got your own shop and you've got employees.

[00:20:42] So what was that transition like of actually turning it into a business? And like, how scary was that thinking like, this is what I'm going to do? Very, very. So I mentioned to you before we started recording, I worked at Apple for three years before this.

[00:21:00] I was like the lead genius. Oh, yeah. Which I oh, man, when people are like, you're going to hate the title of that. And I was like, I'm not like. I don't like to inflate myself, but I don't mind it, like it's kind of corny, but it's whatever.

[00:21:14] But man, the second you start telling people like meeting like your significant other's extended family, like, oh, what do you do? And I'm like, I work at Apple. What do you do? They're like, I'm a genius. Like, oh, cool. Smart guy. Anyways, but that was a fun job.

[00:21:30] It was good. You know, but I wanted to do this. And that was telling my wife that we recently bought a house and got married.

[00:21:38] And I was like, hey, I think I want to quit my job that I like benefits and like retirement and start like painting headlights in the basement. She's like, oh, but she's she was really supportive.

[00:21:51] That was probably like the biggest hurdle, to be honest, that not her, but like myself. Yeah, self-belief is like, hey, like I can I can quit what I'm doing and stop doing what everyone tells you need to have a job.

[00:22:02] And like your fun stuff's on the side and actually do this is like a profession that was like that took a while. So I actually went part time at Apple. I should have just dove into it, to be honest.

[00:22:13] Like the second I had the idea and like did some research, I think I kind of like waited on the bench, you know, until like I was 100 percent certain. I would say as far as advice goes, that's like the number one advice I have for everyone.

[00:22:27] It's like once you figure it out and like, you know what you want to do and like people, people are into it, you think you could like make, you know, make a couple bucks off of it. Just give it a shot. Yeah. What's the worst? Yeah.

[00:22:37] You know that now. But, you know, back then it was like a transition. And I mean, like you said, it's scary.

[00:22:43] You're quitting a job with benefits and jumping into something that while you obviously were having enough business to think of it as like, hey, this is something that I can do full time.

[00:22:55] And as my own thing to support myself and do what I love, it's still scary because there's still you know, there's no guarantees that that's going to the trajectory is still going to be what it has been. But now here you are.

[00:23:10] I know I would say like the other part of that, too, as far as like how we kind of launched, that was when Instagram was starting to get like bigger. And I think I just reached out.

[00:23:19] I reached out to the people that I looked up to, to be honest, like people that I followed for a long time. I just said, hey, I noticed that you have like factory headlights. The rest of your car is like, you know, like dialed.

[00:23:30] And I think that I have like a unique product and I'd love to offer it to you. So I don't know. Chan Lee, he works for Cobb in Texas. Yeah. He had like a really crazy ball guy like the look at it.

[00:23:43] It got flood damage, so it's not around anymore, but it is like I still love that car. Brendan Schultz, his bug eye. I hit him up and he was like down like 100 percent. I want those lights.

[00:23:54] And I think both of those two guys probably did a lot to catapult me to where I am today. Yeah, that's good. So now that you're transitioning into doing more performance type stuff and you've got a shop, so you are having a shop, you're going to provide services.

[00:24:11] But you also provide like third party products. So how is that set up going? And I'm guessing that because you were doing headlights that you are you not making any products yourself?

[00:24:24] Is it all third party or are you looking at potentially doing something of your own, having some of your own like circuit demon products? I was going to say a blanket statement. Yes. Yeah.

[00:24:35] So with the headlight thing, I guess I'll dip my toe into like why we're kind of pivoting from there. And I think once again, the reason the company started was I wanted to get into the automotive scene.

[00:24:45] And I saw this as like a low cost way for me to do that and something that I was good at. Like details kind of being artsy. It's been really fun and we'll continue to sell all the highlight products. We have all the how to videos.

[00:24:59] We're to this day telling people that we're not taking on any new product projects, but we can give them all the information, send them pictures and make sure they buy the correct product while we are taking a break from it to work on the performance side.

[00:25:15] And I just want to dedicate more of my time to that to get it kind of going. I do plan to do like headlights and probably special, like custom, like really custom sets in the future.

[00:25:27] And it might be like one every month that we kind of build either for somebody that that we want to build them for or if like a customer hits us up and has a cool project. I'd love to continue to use the.

[00:25:38] Yeah, the knowledge that I've gained over the past 10 years of doing something that instead of just like dropping it all.

[00:25:44] But yeah, I would say that as far as like why we're shifting, I don't know, I think for me, like my my eyes change from from doing a lot of like the really bright color neon light stuff to more of the performance side. I'm like 36.

[00:25:58] I'm not getting any younger and it's not like I don't like the headlight stuff. It's just the way I describe to everyone is if you see a cool car on the street.

[00:26:08] I don't go up to that car and I'm not like, wow, look at the headlights on that. Like, that is like those are sick. Like, I'm well, like, like the wheels of fitment, like the interior. It's like the first thing that my eye drift towards.

[00:26:21] So I think, you know, for me, it's just going to be more interesting to to try something new, you know, put myself in a bit of the deep end. I know a lot about the stuff we're doing, but the other stuff that I still need to learn.

[00:26:32] Fortunately, I'm align myself with some really great business partners that know all that stuff. So it should be fun. Yeah. And so what services are you going to offer there at your shop? Everything. Yeah, pretty much everything that you could want for your car.

[00:26:47] We can do here and if we can't do it here, we are partnered up with like the best in the business to be able to offer it. So I think for.

[00:26:56] You know, when I had my Subaru built, I dropped it off at IG and that was like the only like. Option at the time for me, you know, that was a long it's like, you know, it's probably a seven and a half, eight hour drive trailering this car.

[00:27:11] So for me, what I wanted to be able to do is like just give like the local community that I'm familiar with that I've grown up in and the the expand of the region around it, a shop that you can get all those services reliably

[00:27:23] and top notch quality. But, yeah, right now we're doing like a full motor build on a car. Customer Logan of ours seems to have some donuts in the parking lot. It's a broad knock.

[00:27:34] So we just put our motor in Chris that works here, just just finished timing it this past week and we're waiting on getting some parts back from powder coat to be able to put it back in the car. We have. I don't know the year.

[00:27:50] That's the only gone in 60 seconds. The Shelby. Yeah, yeah. Eleanor. Yeah, we have. So a customer of ours bought that at like auction. It's like it's like a clone. Yeah. Signed by Carroll Shelby. It's cool.

[00:28:03] So we're doing like a full like new motor, new trend and new suspension. All that. We had a Lamborghini SVJ, like a twenty twenty one ridiculous car and last month for some electrical diagnosis. So we kind of do everything.

[00:28:20] But as far as Subaru stuff, the five of the people here like our Subaru owners who came from Subarus really into it. So I'd say that's kind of our heart and sour north north star. Yeah, our heart and soul.

[00:28:35] But there's a lot of other stuff that we're capable of doing that we are more than happy to. But as far as like, yeah, motor build tuning, tuning is a big one. Dino tuning. We have some great tuners. I'm sure we'll talk about that a little bit.

[00:28:45] But everything, everything you want. We got it. That's good. Yeah. And so as far as like all of the products that you have, because I know you can go on your website and there you can select different products.

[00:28:56] So I guess you're going to be like if somebody wants to do some stuff themselves or like they live across the country, but they want to buy some parts, then they can buy parts from you and have them shipped out. Correct. Totally.

[00:29:08] And I know there's a lot of other vendors in the marketplace right now, but we have some really cool ideas that I don't think anyone else is looking at.

[00:29:19] And I think it really harkens back to what I was talking about, why I see a place for us in the Subaru performance community information. Right.

[00:29:31] More importantly, a lot of misinformation or favoritism towards companies based on if you sell it or not or how big your margin is on it. I don't subscribe to that. I want to make sure that people get the information.

[00:29:44] If you can't buy from me, I'll tell you where to get it. But that's that's really what our goal is, is to make sure that anyone anywhere we have a lot of people in Australia that buy our headlights and our headlight components.

[00:29:57] Even for any of them, like I want them to be able to come to us and get the correct information for what they need and what's going to work with it instead of guessing all the time. So, yeah. Yeah, it's good.

[00:30:07] It's good to provide that kind of service to people because then they're going to want to keep coming back and they'll tell other people about it.

[00:30:14] And yeah, hopefully, I think even if people don't buy it from us, I think there's always a benefit to ensuring that the right information is getting out there. Of course. Not just not just opinions. Yeah. And hopefully you'll get a little more exposure through the podcast, too.

[00:30:31] You know, I'm hoping so. Yeah. Juice me up. Yeah. No. So like how many. So you went from just you and then, you know, three people. And then how many employees do you have now?

[00:30:43] So now we have five, I guess, with with COVID, like things got really, really busy as that started to trail off and, you know, things started to slow a little bit. We just didn't need as many people anymore.

[00:30:55] So some of them decided to try something new, which is awesome. And then, yeah, that's kind of where we're at currently. Five, including you? Yes. Okay. All right.

[00:31:06] So I was looking, I actually was scrolling through Instagram this morning and there was a video that popped up from Circuit Demon. I don't remember. Was it Chris? Maybe he like introduced himself and said that he does like the video and media or something. Jordan. Oh, Jordan. Okay.

[00:31:22] So do you have a Chris? We do. Okay. Yeah. So that's probably because I know I've scrolled through and shows names and stuff. So it's probably just what hit stuck in my head. But who's like, I set a video up yesterday. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

[00:31:35] So whose idea was it to like start doing these videos like that? Jordan and myself. So I'm, um, I think a lot of it comes back to like what we find interesting.

[00:31:49] If you look at like any other company that does what we do, there's not like a lot of this like personality involved. And I think there's people in those in performance shops that are very interesting. And I think people would really enjoy to hear more about them.

[00:32:01] So for us, it's yeah, it's kind of highlighting the employees, like showing people why we have like maybe a unique view on what we're doing. But yeah, Jordan and I talked about it, um, just like having employee highlights.

[00:32:13] So we actually every Sunday for the past three weeks, we've put our employee highlights up. So I think next week is mine. And the week after that is Matt, who's one of the new partners. And then after that is going to be Kevin, who's our in-house tuner. Nice.

[00:32:25] Yeah. I think it's just cool to like know the people behind the phone or behind the computer you're talking to. Yeah.

[00:32:33] And I mean, that's the whole point of me getting brands and just individuals on the podcast is because for people that follow somebody out there in the community, like they may know Circuit Demon.

[00:32:44] Maybe they haven't heard of Circuit Demon, but then now they get to hear the story behind the brand and like how it got started and you know, where you're going and what your ideas are and what your goals are and stuff like that.

[00:32:54] Because you won't get a lot of that just looking on Instagram, but doing those little videos, you get a little more taste of that. And I like that idea. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah.

[00:33:03] I think for we're going to do like a lot more of those coming up and that's, um, I don't know if we should talk about that now or later, but our yeah, a big, big, big part of what we're going to be doing over

[00:33:14] the next, I guess from here on out, I should say, uh, is like more, more content based showing people like what happens in the shop.

[00:33:22] And part of that is if you drop your car off with us, we want to make sure that you know, like what's going on. I don't, I don't want people to have to send a message to say, Hey, can I get like an update?

[00:33:33] Uh, or can you send me some pictures of like where the car's at the cars we've had so far. We've like documented the entire process and it's, it's really cool. It's like handing somebody like a scrapbook. Right. But it's like a video.

[00:33:45] So it's like, Hey, like, like Logan that we're building this motor right now, his car is almost done.

[00:33:49] It's been here for like maybe two or three weeks and we'll be able to kind of put together this video for him, for him to show, you know, his friends, family watch himself. I'm like, this is like your car coming back to life. It's a scary thing, right?

[00:34:01] Like pulling a motor, like it's not fun. It's like, you know, you get a little dizzy, you look at the bill and, um, and making sure that like you're picking the right stuff and you're doing the right thing.

[00:34:12] But I think for a lot of customers, it's going to help them.

[00:34:14] And the other part, like I said, is just making sure that people could see what we're doing here and showing them like how they can have fun with their car, how they can work on it at home.

[00:34:21] And if they aren't comfortable with that, they have a place that they're familiar with. There is super transparent so they can bring it into and we can do it for them. Yeah.

[00:34:31] And then that's good because then doing videos like that for your customers, they can show other people, you know, the, the progress of the build.

[00:34:39] And then they can, that's kind of like advertising for you, for them to show off, you know, the work that y'all have done, but you know, it's something too, that they can be proud of as well. Totally. Totally. So where did the name Circuit Demon come from?

[00:34:54] Good question. Uh, I saw that. I have to admit, I don't know if your listeners know that you send over a few select questions, but, uh, that is one that I don't get a lot of questions about actually, which is funny to me. It's a strange name.

[00:35:07] But my, I have two brothers, a younger and older brother. And when I was launching the company, we kind of all talked about it and my plan was like eventually get them involved in it.

[00:35:19] Didn't quite work out how I was hoping or expected, but either way we were looking at like names and not, we really come from like a background of, um, you ever like best motoring international BMI? Uh, I haven't heard of it. No.

[00:35:35] Old Japanese, like mostly drift, like video series. The videos are sick. Like Togay, like crazy, uh, the drift King, um, Tuchia. Uh, but yeah, it's a lot of like old school, like early two thousands, like modification type stuff and like the whole like Japanese hardstyle culture.

[00:35:57] Like drifting and stuff like that. So we kind of wanted to have like a little bit of a, like that feel to it.

[00:36:04] So that's kind of, I think that's probably like where demon came from is like, you know, like street demons or like, um, street monster, kind of like that. And then circuit came down to like, obviously like electrical lighting circuit.

[00:36:18] But the other side of that is not a lot of people know is like circuit isn't like a, like a racing circuit, like a racetrack. So it's kind of funny. Like we, my whole idea behind the name of the company was to someday expand.

[00:36:31] It's kind of funny that, that here we are, you know, like nine years, 10 years later and it's finally happened. But yeah, that's where the name came from was really like literally the two other names we thought of were like kind of weak.

[00:36:42] So this one just goes like, well, this is the best one we got. So let's just go for it. Yeah. So how many cars have you had come through and like how many have been Subarus? Yeah.

[00:36:53] So we've had, so November, December, and then it was all just redoing the shop. Okay. Like we got a brand new dino. We created like a dino cell. We built the dino in, I should say Matt and Chris did most of the building.

[00:37:10] They built like an engine room, like a, like a clean engine room. They built so much stuff. The whole shop painted a lot of other like infrastructure upgrades to help just provide the best service possible. So we were closed for pretty much two months.

[00:37:27] Then through that time, we were like building headlights and whatever, but a lot of it was just working on the shop. So we officially, we officially opened in like early to mid January. We probably had maybe like three or four weeks ago.

[00:37:43] So we probably had like three cars a week. And then a lot of like long-term projects in, so I would say out of the cars we've had in maybe like 70% have been Subarus, which is okay.

[00:37:56] I'm happy about, but yeah, I would say that's the majority of them and the long-term projects we have. We have a STI where the owner tracks the car path, like religious, let's it's a track car purpose.

[00:38:10] And the last year, two years ago, the engine harness caught on fire. Oh, mechanically the car is fine, but all the wiring is like fried.

[00:38:19] So we have like a full dash out tear down to get replaced that my car is here, which is a 2007 STI with a two JZ swap from a Toyota Supra. Um, it's yeah, it should make like a, about a thousand horsepower. We will drive.

[00:38:35] Everyone tells me I ruined it, which is probably true. But, um, and then we have a couple of like a couple of Evos. We have a Ferrari and then, um, that Shelby. But yeah. Yeah, that'd be fun.

[00:38:46] It'd be nice to see all the different types of cars that you get coming in. Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking forward to that. Um, I, I have, uh, had a lot of my whole tuning experience has been with Subarus.

[00:38:59] Uh, our tuner experience, uh, recently is like, I just got my first non Subaru, uh, for the past, like 13 years. So it'd be cool to like, learn more about other cars.

[00:39:10] I think when I was like planning out this two JZ swap on my current car, which we were doing a full like video series for that, like full build series. Showing like all the, all the good, bad and ugly of us trying to get that done.

[00:39:22] But yeah, I think for me, it'll be, it was a lot to learn with like, okay. Like what works with this motor? What doesn't what, um, product, even like vendors, like who makes this part?

[00:39:33] Cause like Cobb and Perrin don't, there's a lot of, a lot of figuring out, but yeah, it'd be cool to kind of see like the other sides of, um, of car modification. Yeah.

[00:39:43] And it's good that you have a lot of Subaru knowledge and experience because then for the people that are going to come through your shop that have a Subaru, then they'll get taken care of. Totally.

[00:39:53] I think the two parts of that are we're in like Western New York. We had a lot of snow. The Subarus are big up here. Uh, and then secondly, we have a lot of like meats around us.

[00:40:05] I feel like, you know, as far as like the community, there's a lot of Subaru's that are like really involved in, in community. There's like meets up here. Um, we could big meat is, you know, four and a half hours away. Boxer Fest is four hours away.

[00:40:19] So it's kind of cool. It's like centrally located to a lot of what's going on. Um, and we're hoping to feel all those people in here. Yeah.

[00:40:26] And I'm guessing that this next year you'll be at both of those events to showcase what it is that you do now. Is that a plan? I'm smiling really awkwardly for the audio listeners. We are going to wicked big meat.

[00:40:38] We've been going to wicked big meat for the past nine years as a company. And I went two years prior to that personally, it means a lot to me. It's an awesome event. Uh, this year we will be attending.

[00:40:51] Uh, but we want to do things a little differently. And I think that's like the whole point of us taking this change is like, we just wanted to do things a little different and I see a lot of opportunity.

[00:40:59] So I don't believe we're going to be doing a vendor tent. They're like a vendor, a vendor booth. Uh, but we will be attending and talking to people. And the big issue we had the past nine years is every time we go there, we want to make connections.

[00:41:12] We want to talk to, we like set up like meetings with people like, Hey, like you want to get all this stuff done? Or like, you know, we built your headlights a couple of years ago. You want to get them refreshed?

[00:41:22] I'm having, you know, even people are like, I'm having an issue. Can you take a look at it during the show? Yeah, like totally. Like we're in the same place at the same time.

[00:41:29] It makes sense for me as a business owner to make sure you're all good, but we just get mobbed the whole show. Like we don't have time to take lunch and we like have like friends come to help out.

[00:41:41] We'll have like eight people and the whole time, like we're just talking to people, which is great.

[00:41:47] But like I said, I think for me, like the deeper connections or like meeting up with people or like talk to our loyal customers is a big, big point that I like to make time for. And I think it, it booths like that is difficult to.

[00:42:04] So this year we're going to go up and just cover it and do like a big video.

[00:42:08] We might try to schedule like a little like meetup area or pre-meet, but I think I'm going to go there with the 2JZ car and show it off and show people what we're doing.

[00:42:17] And then just talk to everybody that we can about their car and their build and what they've done. And I think a big thing that I want to cover more of is like the overlanding or off-roading. I'd love to learn more about that.

[00:42:30] You know, for me, like I've never been off road besides like my yard. I'm sure it is, you know? And yeah, I want to just like try to figure that out. And it's funny because on the way over here, I was thinking more about it.

[00:42:43] And I was like, man, if they, if they had like the turbo motors and like a cross truck, like that would, that would rip. But I don't really think that most of the owners need that.

[00:42:53] You're not like going like 60 miles an hour up a hill, you know, or like off road. Unless you're Milton. He goes by SilverBulletXV. He drives really fast. So does, so does Judy the Subie. His name's Anthony.

[00:43:08] There's a lot of people that they do drive fast on the trails, but I was going to ask too, like being that you're up there in the snow, there's a lot of off-road Subarus up there too. So there might be an opportunity because people are doing lift kits.

[00:43:21] They're putting on bumpers, you know, they're putting on roof racks. So, you know, lighting, lighting too, of course. Yeah. I mean, so there's a lot of off-road lighting, you know? So that might be a future endeavor opportunity because you're up there in the snow.

[00:43:37] So, you know, I mean the off-road community is like, you know, it's like with the podcast and it's, it's kind of more geared towards the off-road community just because I have an off-road build. And that's what I gravitate towards. That's what kind of has gravitated towards me.

[00:43:55] And like just Subaru as a whole, as a brand is, you know, there's a lot of enthusiasts out there, but it's still a lot smaller as a company than like Ford and Chevy and some of these other major brands.

[00:44:07] So you have the off-road community, which is even a much smaller component of Subaru as a whole and enthusiasts.

[00:44:16] So, you know, I almost think, I mean, I'm sure you're seeing this and maybe you don't want to overtly say it, but I definitely think Subaru is more geared, geared their trajectory towards that subset. You know what I mean?

[00:44:32] Like subsets are, and you know, there's a lot of drama about the new WRX. You know, it looks like a cross track or the cladding or this or that. And all their cars, like it's, it's really interesting to me that years ago, everything was like the STI, right?

[00:44:48] So like you get, even if you got like a legacy or like a Forester or whatever, you would have like the STI upgrade components. Even at the dealership, you can get like STI wheels for your Forester. But now like it's less that and definitely more the wilderness, right?

[00:45:04] Like every, every car is like a wilderness model now besides the, um, the legacy and the ascent. I mean, they should do the ascent. That would be sick. Yeah. That would be awesome. But I don't know.

[00:45:17] I think like there's a lot of, there's a lot there and I think it's really cool. Like I'm not one of those people who's like, oh, it's not on the track or on the road. Like it's not for me. Like, I think it's really neat.

[00:45:26] I'd like to get more and just learn more about it and talk to those customers and see like what excites them or like what inspires them for their builds compared to like me.

[00:45:36] They're just like, Paul Walker's got underglow, you know, he's driving, turning his girl instead of shifting. Yeah. The off-road community has been small, but it is getting more exposure. You know, there's, they're getting more exposure at the CB Fest events.

[00:45:50] That component is getting bigger than now, of course, with Subaru taking notice of that and coming out with the wilderness additions, they're at least paying attention and putting more focus on, you know, cause like not everybody's going to want to take a car and build it out like some of us do.

[00:46:08] But if somebody wants to just take a Subaru off the showroom floor and be able to have some pretty, really decent off-road capabilities, you can take a stock wilderness edition of any of the three that they offer. Totally.

[00:46:21] And you know, it's going to be more capable than, you know, a lower model, but. They like different drive modes now. You know what I mean? It's like. Yeah.

[00:46:30] Like double X mode and, you know, it's a higher clearance and, you know, so I mean like the wilderness additions aren't.

[00:46:38] Super crazy over like just a regular cross track, but you have, you know, a lot of it I think is the look and the name and kind of the recognition, but they do give you a little bit better clearance.

[00:46:50] They do give you like, except for the cross track, except for the cross track, the Forester and the Outback have a front camera. So when you're going off road and you need to pick your line that helps you out if you're out there by yourself, you know?

[00:47:03] So yeah, there are some upgrades that are definitely helpful. It's kind of like a, like, is like they're holding the door for you. You know what I mean? They're like, if you want to go this way, I'll let you go there.

[00:47:13] But yeah, even like, like, if you look at the larger like donut the other day, I saw a commercial for the cross track. Well, and it's, um, who'd again, they've been doing a lot of like that overland cross racing. I don't know if you've seen that.

[00:47:26] It's kind of like this versus that, but like. Or jumps and whatever. It's a kind of cool. Um, but yeah, I don't know. Especially like all the EPA stuff too.

[00:47:35] I think more people find a more friendly and more welcoming group with a lot of your listeners as opposed to the mess of a Subaru, every X Facebook groups. Yeah.

[00:47:51] So like when you opened up the shop and you were doing all the work and then you started to actually get some business in the shop for people coming in to have some work done, like how did you go from there?

[00:48:03] How did you go about marketing to let people know, Hey, we're open. Bring your car here. You know, what were you doing in that aspect of letting people know that you were open and yeah. Yeah. The new one.

[00:48:17] Yeah. So we, we have been, um, I'm blown away like to this. I I'm so humbled by the amount of people that have like followed us over the years.

[00:48:26] And I think what really shows Natalie, like the, the love of the Subaru community, but also, um, even our, I meet our followers all the time. Not even customers like, oh, I've never bought anything from you, but I followed you for the last eight years.

[00:48:42] I've stuck with us through this transition. You know, if like, as a business, like we're totally switching lanes. Right. Like I get it.

[00:48:48] Like if you're in the headlights and you're not into like the performance side, uh, and all of a sudden, like this page that you follow just like totally is like. Yeah. You know, like I get it. People were to not follow us, but we haven't lost any followers.

[00:49:03] Like, like the number is the same as it was four months ago, which I am. Yeah. Just like blown away by, I really appreciate people, um, seeing a value and following us still. But a lot of it was yeah.

[00:49:13] Like social media, like we have, um, good amount of followers on Instagram. Our YouTube, we have like doubled the amount just because of the new content we're putting out. We want to show people what we're doing.

[00:49:24] We want to give them the information and they see the value in that. So that's, that was really most of it is just mostly like social media stuff. We have a street team.

[00:49:33] I haven't done a great job of like really flexing that to the extent that I wanted to. I think a lot of that is because there's just been a lot more work involved in this, uh, than I anticipated right off the bat.

[00:49:47] But we have like a really diverse and very passionate team of people that, um, we have like a street team for, and we're gonna be doing a lot more with those people as the snow melts here.

[00:49:59] And, and, um, as like events start to happen, but yeah, those are kind of the two things that I think we kind of leaned on is just making sure that we have people. That are supportive of us and we're supportive of their passion.

[00:50:10] And then the other part is just making sure that we continue to show value to people at home, you know, and if they want to get their stuff worked on, like we're more than capable of doing it. Yeah, no, that's good. Yeah.

[00:50:23] So you talked about business partners earlier, so you've got five employees, but then you've got some business partners. So like, how has that worked out? And like, what are your business partnerships? Yeah, it's been, um, I was talking, man. So far it's awesome.

[00:50:38] And I know, like, there's always going to be like, um, things that pop up, but I think because of how long I've known both of them, we just understand how to communicate with each other. You know, like, uh, I am way too loud sometimes.

[00:50:52] And I think I can recognize when I'm getting on people's nerves, but yeah. So Matt, I used to work at a store called zoomies. It's like a skateboard snowboard retailer. I worked there for like, um, almost 10 years.

[00:51:04] I started as like a seasonal sales associate and left as a district manager. Nice. But when I was 20, three, I hired a 16 year old with shaggy hair and that's Matt. So that's how I met him.

[00:51:19] And then I moved away for zoomies and I saw him at a Subaru, uh, show that stopped. It was the sickest Subaru show ocean city all wheel drive me, uh, in ocean city, Maryland. It was like kind of like H2O, but not as like crazy.

[00:51:35] And just all super is that show is like, I love, I loved that show, but I saw him down there and I was like, Matt, he's like, Jeff, I was like, I didn't know you're in the cars. He's like, I didn't know you're in a Subaru.

[00:51:47] So, uh, after that, like we just kind of kept in touch. He was a partner investor in a business working on cars. Uh, and then he hired, uh, one of his friends who I kind of met peripherally through the group and became a friend years ago.

[00:52:03] Uh, Chris, so Matt and Chris, uh, both worked at the shop. Um, one, a little bit of a change. We talked a little bit and, uh, we decided to join forces.

[00:52:12] And for me, like I said, I definitely wanted to make sure that we were aligning ourselves with people that knew how to fill the gaps that I have in my knowledge of. Like building motors and tuning cars and stuff like that.

[00:52:25] And these two guys are their work ethic is like unparalleled their commitment to like quality. Like they won't touch it unless they have like the right tools. Like they don't even try unless it's like the right tool of like the way that it should be done.

[00:52:38] And not based off like instructions, it's based on like their personal experience, which I think is like a big, big, big thing for me. So yeah, they, I trust them to work on my cars before joining up. And I'm hoping that our customers feel the same way.

[00:52:51] And I think through the, uh, the content we put out, people can kind of see that, uh, these guys know exactly what they're doing. Yeah.

[00:52:59] So like moving forward with the business and like, you know, just growth and everything and just exposure, and especially in the tuning scene, like, do you.

[00:53:10] See yourself maybe trying to partner with any big names in Subaru, like such as maybe some of the drivers or Subaru motorsports USA or anything like that, or any other like Subaru centered services or brands. Yeah.

[00:53:23] So I think, I think for me, it's less of like, I, I think that personalities are extremely important, but I think what I've gotten, everyone knows of like a company that's worked with somebody.

[00:53:39] That the company shuts down or like they get a bad reputation and they just, they sometimes pay like a celebrity or like, uh, uh, I guess a celebrity to, um, to be part of their build.

[00:53:52] Um, and I think for me, what I really tried to do is align myself with the brands behind those people. So like you, you mentioned like, um, Subaru America or like, um, Subaru North America, like rally team. And for me, it's more like, okay.

[00:54:07] Like what makes like Vermont sports car builds those cars, you know, like reaching out to Vermont sports car to carry their products. Okay. Like what makes those cars so legendary? And a lot of it's like the performance, right?

[00:54:19] So like looking and seeing who builds their motors and this company crest in Australia, they actually met like CNC, uh, billet blocks to make the heads for those cars.

[00:54:32] They're actually coming out with a, they came out cast heads that are totally different, like totally re-engineered from Subaru to increase the performance.

[00:54:42] And they're actually coming out with, um, with new cast blocks instead of having to get like a block, uh, and put like the inserts to make a closed deck, they're like re-engineering like the EJ motor.

[00:54:54] You know, I think that's like a big one that I'm looking at is just like looking at the companies behind these big, big years, as far as like people. Yeah.

[00:55:03] I want to work with some cool people, but I think the first thing I want to start with is like really making sure that the products that we are offering first are people that maybe haven't heard of or don't know where to get.

[00:55:18] And then once we have that, and once we can offer good products, then maybe trying to link up with, um, with individuals.

[00:55:25] But yeah, the last like four months of my life has just been calling back on people that I've met over the past nine years of doing custom lighting, um, or just meeting new people that specialize in the things that I want to go towards.

[00:55:39] Uh, that's really taken a lot of my time. And I think that I believe that it's going to be a big benefit to our customers and followers over the next six months as the weather starts to thaw out, um, what we kind of have planned. Yeah, that's good.

[00:55:53] It's nice to, uh, like have a vision like that and see some direction and where you want to go with things. So I wandered in the woods, my spirit animal found me. It's a shitty super motor. I don't know. Like I swear, sorry.

[00:56:08] No, it would have been your greatest successes and some of your greatest failures with Circuit Demon.

[00:56:15] I mean, I know it's just been, it was custom lighting for so long and you're just now getting into the tuning aspect of it, but you know, I think you could probably still answer that question. Oh, 100%.

[00:56:27] I, I am thankful for like the good times and the bad times, um, with the lighting. Cause I think for me, it's really helped me prioritize and look at, you know, flip over the stones to see every possible issue that could come up in the performance side.

[00:56:46] So, yeah, I would say like the biggest positives or like the biggest accomplishments we've had is probably working with some of the bigger names like Crispy, Crispy Media. Um, he really had a lot of faith in us at the beginning.

[00:57:00] We did some custom lights for his legacy version 1.0 and, uh, we did his second car that he brought to SEMA, the same car, but version 2.0. Uh, we worked with T-Pain. We did some custom headlights for his drift BMW. Yeah. E46, um, M3. We worked with the Kaiser.

[00:57:20] Uh, if you guys follow him at all, he does like, um, yeah, he does like the craziest renders and then he, he is partners in a company called Live to Offend. And yeah, they make wild, mostly BMW right now RX7.

[00:57:36] Um, but we did some like custom lights for him. Like he sent us like a render that he made and we like brought those headlights to life. Like we like, man, we 3d printed like carbon fiber filament to withstand the heat.

[00:57:49] We had to weld stuff inside of the headlight. We, um, like CNC routed acrylic. We like programmed like coded custom. It was like probably one of the most intense projects, but we got to go see the debut of it in New York city.

[00:58:04] And it was like such a cool experience. So yeah, I would say like, those are some of the accomplishments. I think the other thing too is like the team that we were able to build.

[00:58:13] I made some like really great friends, like really close, you know, to this day. And I think just like being able to, as a individual be so scared to like support somebody, right?

[00:58:25] Like I have, this person's relying on me for like rent or a mortgage or their car payment, you know, or like their kids. Uh, and being able to, you know, like make sure they have a paycheck week in week out.

[00:58:37] I think it was like a big accomplishment for me just taking care of people. You know, I think the other side of that is it's tough, right? People are complicated sometimes. And, um, I think for me when I get like really stressed out, I really focus on myself.

[00:58:49] So I think as far as like things that I learned, I think one of those is just like making sure that I take a step back and kind of like look at my surroundings and, um, you know, just not get too stressed out when times are tough.

[00:59:01] Just like kind of take an even keel approach. And I think that's like something that I'm trying to bring with me on this next journey. Cause you know, I think everyone gets like stressed out and deals with it different ways for me.

[00:59:13] I just like keep it all inside and it's, it's not the great way to do it. Uh, I never like blow up, but it's just like, people can tell like my, my shoulders are heavy. That makes other people like a little nervous, you know? So yeah.

[00:59:26] Is he going to blow up? Yeah. You know, like, like I'll, I'll be stressed out and like one of my guys would be like, are you good? And I'm like, I'm pretty stressed right now. Like, yeah, I could tell him like, really? You can.

[00:59:36] Cause I had no idea. But yeah, I think it's like making sure that people, I think a lot of the, um, in previous situations, even like with Jordan or, um, the other guys here, they'll think like they're causing it, but it's just like external stuff.

[00:59:48] You know, it's just, uh, that, yeah. Managing is, uh, it's just tough. Yeah. So I didn't mean to go so deep in there, but

[00:59:56] I think that's one of the things that I, I think people enjoy about the podcast is it's not just about cars and parts and mods and going places. It's like getting to know the person that is talking in.

[01:00:11] We've had some episodes that have gotten pretty deep, you know, with personal stuff. And I think that's, I think that's one of the aspects that people really enjoy about it. But yeah. So don't apologize for that. No need. No, you're good to go. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:00:23] I think for just to kind of explain that like a little further, I guess, like, um, oh, actually I don't think it's necessary. I kind of covered all that other thing that I, uh, have, I would say is like a failure is like the COVID wait times.

[01:00:38] Like that, like looking back, I think that's still like hurts our reputation as a brand. Uh, is like we, we had so many orders so fast, which is fine.

[01:00:50] We hired, like I tried to do like all the right things, which was like, all right, we need more people. We need more product, like get all the building and we'll get it out.

[01:00:57] Like at our peak, I think we were doing like 15 to 20 headlights a week, like completing, like, like not like scheduling or like, like finishing and like getting the top notch product, like good stuff.

[01:01:11] I think the issue was the thing that we didn't consider, which was just getting our hands on product. Like I would be waiting for like two, like a month and a half, like not really able to go any further

[01:01:23] and putting headlights together because we just couldn't get material like parts components. Uh, and talking to customer, like, Hey, like it's supposed to be here in two weeks. They're telling me it is, it might be longer. And like six weeks later, we finally got it.

[01:01:39] So I think, you know, a lot of people got, um, got frustrated with the wait time. I think like, you know, we try to do our best, but I think what I, what I probably would have done to be honest is just start cutting stuff off.

[01:01:51] Like, Hey, like we were back ordered on like 10 or 15 of these, like, let's just stop taking orders on them. Obviously it was a business. You don't want to do that. But I think, um, yeah, through like 2020, I was like, all right, we got to like chill.

[01:02:04] Like we're just trying to do way too much just to make people happy. You know, like a lot of people would, we tell them the wait time and they wanted to do it.

[01:02:12] And I felt horrible when, you know, they'd hit me up like halfway through the wait time. And I'm like, I don't even have the lights here yet, man. Like, like I ordered on the day that you, that you ordered your, your set and like,

[01:02:25] these people just won't, they can't get them to us fast enough. You know? So that's a big thing is under promise over deliver. There it is. That's a big thing going forward is like making sure that we can fulfill things in the customer's timeframe.

[01:02:38] And if it's not in their timeframe, explaining that to them, like in great detail before any money is exchanged is a lesson that I certainly learned. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, as a business, you have to, there's always going to be something

[01:02:51] to learn from, and you also want to operate in a way that is going to be best for your customers because you, I mean, of course it's gotta be best for your business too, but you want the customers to be happy.

[01:03:03] You don't want them to come away being frustrated or angry. And you want them to tell other people and you want them to come back if there's other things that they want to come back for.

[01:03:13] And I totally, I just to sum that all up a hundred percent, like I've always been big on like customer experience. And I think that that's probably, for me, it was like, people want these, like when we

[01:03:27] would tell people like the wait time, they're like, I don't care. Like, I just, I need these in my life. And I think for me, it was like, okay, like give the, give the people what they want. Right?

[01:03:34] Like they're, they're begging for this stuff almost like, let's give them what they want. But then on the backside of that is like, okay, but then they're dealing with like a four month wait for headlights, you know?

[01:03:44] And like, which in my mind, even in that time I was like, this is, it's unacceptable. So yeah, I think like thinking of both sides of the coin when you think of the customer's experience, like you said, for sure. Yeah.

[01:03:55] And customer service is huge because I mean, I, people being that I've had other brands on here, but then also people have so many different mods that they put on their cars and they've had really good customer experiences and they've had some pretty bad customer experiences.

[01:04:12] And you know, you have a bad customer experience and bad customer service. You're not going to go back to that brand. You're going to tell other people not to go to that brand. And it's just, you know, it's not a good way to operate.

[01:04:23] And you want to, I mean, if you're running a business, you want to stay open. You want people to keep coming back. So that, you know, good way to operate for sure. So like so far when you've had the, the Subaru, you said you have like 70% of your

[01:04:40] Subaru is coming or 70% of the business coming in as Subaru is that you're doing work for like, did these people know exactly what they want? And then you provide that form or do they like come in and they're unsure and then you help guide them through that?

[01:04:54] I would say it's like there's three buckets and I don't really know if I could put it in percentages yet, but it's either the people that know, like they've been around, it's not their first rodeo. They know what they're doing.

[01:05:06] And for us, it's just kind of like understanding that, um, that they're confident and what they want done. And just like agreeing with like, yeah, that's the right thing to do. Uh, so that's one.

[01:05:18] The other is people who have no idea and just tell you like, Hey, I just, whatever you guys think, like I bought these parts. Whatever needs to happen. Uh, and then I would say like the third one, and this is kind of like the, I guess are

[01:05:33] the reason that we made this transition or the people that think that they know, but don't, so they'll come in and they want certain parts or a certain look. And they looked online or they did some research or they asked people in a Facebook group or

[01:05:48] whatever and got some answers. But in reality, it's not that they either didn't need something or they overbought or they bought like the wrong thing for what they were trying to do to the car. So I really see it as like pretty much those three buckets currently. Gotcha.

[01:06:04] Yeah. And it seems like that's something that will continue to be that way for sure. And I'm sure not just with Subarus, but with other brands too. Yeah. So we've talked a lot about the brand and the business, but what has, and you can kind

[01:06:19] of just sum this up, but what has been like your personal experience and journey with Subaru and like, how did you get, I mean, you said you started getting interested in cars a long time ago, but like, how did you get interested in Subarus and like, when did

[01:06:31] that happen? Yeah. So I would through high school, I always loved the Evos. Kill me now. This isn't the Mitsubishi podcast. I know. Call ends like, Oh, where'd he go? Um, I was like Evos. I thought they just like looked sleek.

[01:06:49] I was like a big, like rally guy per se. Uh, but I, I had a, uh, a Saturn ion for my first car. Oh yeah. Pretty sick. Right? I know, dude. I know a three door and, um, I wanted something more fun and something cooler maybe.

[01:07:08] Uh, and I was looking around and kind of see like what was around, what was out there. The new Evo at that time, this was 2010, 2011. The Evo, I just didn't like it. Didn't like call to me. I didn't want to buy somebody else's like project.

[01:07:21] And so I looked at the Honda CRZ, which is like so slow, like not what I wanted. I was like, okay, I don't want that. And the only thing that I saw was like the new WRX and in that year they brought the wide

[01:07:35] body onto the WRX, like the bigger front rear fenders. So I bought that the 2011 WRX. That was when the, um, tsunami in Japan had hit 20, 2010, 2011. So I wanted a white, I like watered white so bad. And they was like, Hey, they're shut down. They're not making these cars.

[01:07:55] We have a black one on the way. I did not want a black car, like any color of a black. So I was like, ah, I'm going to wait. He was like, if you want it, this is it.

[01:08:04] So I left and I called him like five minutes down the road. I was like, all right, I'll take it. So that's where it started. And from there, like I, that was the car was fun. I did like, um, uh, access port intake exhaust, like the basics.

[01:08:19] And that's when I started like really like finding community, uh, within cars, like before that, especially with Saturn, like it's non-existent, right? Yeah. Like the Saturn community utility. That sounds funny saying that Saturday, uh, that a community, but, um, yeah, that's like,

[01:08:35] oh, we're just starting to meet people locally that were, were into it and knew more than I did. And I, I talk a lot, but it was really cool to just like sit down and shut up and just listen and just hear about like people's experiences.

[01:08:48] And yeah, that's where it started. Uh, let me run through chronologically my Subaru's because I probably asked about that. So 2011, I had the black WX premium. I moved to Virginia and was driving a ton for work. So I wanted something to take the miles on.

[01:09:03] So I got an O2 Aspen white bug eye. I traded the black 2011 in for a 2013 STI sedan. I sold the O2 WX and got a 06 Impreza non-turbo just for commuter because the turbo was just not great for gas mileage.

[01:09:26] It turns out, uh, and then I needed to downsize my cars and I wanted to like build something like big power and like being like in your early twenties and having a brand new STI as the most financially efficient way to do that.

[01:09:41] So I sold the 2013 to the dealership for like what I bought it for a year prior, which was sick. And then I sold my really good friend, Andy, uh, the Impreza, I needed a car. And then I got my 07 STI, which I currently have today.

[01:09:56] It had a turbo kit and that was like supporting mods and like stock suspension. Like it just like dove and like rolled everywhere so bad, but it made a ton of power in my mind, made a ton of power. After that, I got a man. All right.

[01:10:13] Let me remember here. After that, I got a 2017 STI from prime motoring. I bought from prime motoring. I sold that. I got an 06 Forester XT. Oh yeah. I had somebody, uh, a very, uh, known shop in Southern Pennsylvania do a pre pre-purchase inspection.

[01:10:39] I picked, they said it was great. I picked the car up. It had a bad motor. I already paid for it. Oh wow. You'd already paid for it? Yeah. That's not good. I wasn't very happy about that. No, it's not good at all. Bad customer service.

[01:10:53] Right there it is, dude. And then, uh, and then I had a 2022 WX. Yeah, that's my Subaru portfolio. Is that it? Yeah. Am I qualified to be on here? Yeah, I think so. On the podcast. All right, cool. But yeah, that's pretty much the list of them. Wow.

[01:11:13] That's, uh, that's, that's pretty good. Heavy hitters. Yeah. But if you could own any Subaru model, like ever, which one would you own? So funny that you asked, we recently did a video, the shameless plug. We did a video of like the top 10 Subarus you've never heard of.

[01:11:30] It's not the, it's not the rarest. I started watching that. So there's one in there, it's called the RB300 and it's a Hawkeye and was only in England. And it was pretty much like a rally driver passed away from cancer.

[01:11:45] So portions of the proceeds went to that foundation, but it just looks like really cool. It has like 300 horsepower from the fat, which like Subaru STI is already dead. But I think like the small visual and interior touches were just like really cool.

[01:12:02] And I think like the story behind it's really cool as well. So there's a lot of other rare Subaru's that I could definitely pick out. But to be honest, that car is always stuck out to me.

[01:12:12] Actually years ago, I tried to remake the grill that that car comes with. Cause like you can't buy them. Yeah. So I bought like a mesh from Home Depot. It came out okay. I'll be honest. It wasn't, it wasn't bad, but it was not great. How about you?

[01:12:28] What would you do? What do I do? What would you do? Rare Subaru, any Subaru, any Subaru? I don't know. So it's funny because like, you know, even though I do this podcast and I have a lot of people on,

[01:12:41] like I don't have a lot of Subaru experience. I mean, I bought my Crosstrek in September of 2020, knowing very little about Subaru. So, I mean, I get people on like you that have known about Subaru for a long time.

[01:12:54] You know, you kind of dive into the community, you get into the tuner community. I mean, I know about the, you know, the off-road side of things, but I mean, I don't know. I've seen some nice cars. Like I've seen some older legacy wagon GTs that are nice.

[01:13:10] I've driven one and then, but also I really liked the, I always liked the WRX and STI wagons that I would see like that's, you know, and like, I didn't even know that they weren't making them anymore until I bought my Crosstrek.

[01:13:24] I was at the dealership and I think I was asking about it or something. And somebody said they don't make them anymore. And, and I always, you know, I always saw those and I always liked them. The only thing I didn't like about them was the taillights.

[01:13:35] The taillights just, they didn't fit the car. Like the car looked so awesome. And then the taillights look dumb. You know, I think the weirdest part about them is like the, they have an area for like the brake or the running light, but there's no bulbs in there.

[01:13:49] Yeah. Like it's empty. So weird. Yeah. So I don't really have like an answer for, but I mean, I think like. Leborg? Are you a Leborg guy? I've seen him, but yeah, I don't know a whole lot about him, but I think like,

[01:14:02] for me, if I were to have one, I think it would be like an older legacy GT wagon. And cause those are, those are pretty cool. Yeah. They're just long and like long and pointy. I like that. Yeah. I do. Yeah.

[01:14:17] I just, I mean, it would be fun to have something faster than a cross track. That's fair. Yeah. So I know that you were talking earlier, you said you haven't really gone off road,

[01:14:28] but I think you should maybe try to meet up with some people at some point up there that do go off road and go have that experience because it's. I agree. I living here in Houston, I have to see everybody doing it on Instagram.

[01:14:43] And I, you know, there's like FOMO, which is fear of missing out. And I like to say for me, it's like Romo reality of missing out, you know, because it's like,

[01:14:54] I don't have the opportunity to go do these things unless I either drive really far or I fly out and drive somebody else's car, which I've done. Yeah. Which is tough to do though. Yeah. Cause you don't want to like push it too hard. Yeah.

[01:15:08] I mean, I did so like last year for my 50th birthday, I did go out to moon rocks in Nevada. And yeah, it was, I had the opportunity to drive three different cars off road in the snow. And so that was, that was a lot of fun.

[01:15:21] And I've been off road with other people out in California. So it's not like I haven't been able to go do anything, but you, when you see these people on Instagram, like every single day, all over the country, going out, driving through snow out there

[01:15:36] with like 20 other Subarus, you know, hitting some awesome trails, it's like an average week, average weekend for them. Yeah. You know, and not everybody goes out every weekend, but I mean, there's a lot of people

[01:15:46] that are going out at least like once a month and they're like, Oh yeah. Mountains are like 30 minutes away. And like, man, that'd be nice. Well, here's the, here's a call to arms. Anyone that is near like, yeah, Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, or like wants to invite

[01:16:01] me out, man. I'll just have them contact me. Yeah. Just email us or whatever, but I'd love to, I think it'd be really cool to explore more of that. And maybe even just like to shine a light for me, obviously I want to do it.

[01:16:14] I think it'd be fun for my own person, but I think the other side of it too is to like highlight that, you know, that's one of the, once again, a big thing we're trying to do

[01:16:24] is like more content, more video and kind of show people the different things you could do with your Subaru. And I think that'd be really cool to capture. So, hey, if anyone wants to take me out, I'm just like holding onto the, the, Oh shucks handles. Yeah.

[01:16:41] So what do you, I mean, I know you kind of talked about this a little bit, but do you have like specific goals that you see for Circuit Demon, you know, over the next few years? Man.

[01:16:52] So that's actually like, I recently put together my goals for the year and a lot of the, I'm not a self-help guy, but I try to do some research, research as far as like, what's a good way to set goals?

[01:17:08] A lot of them are just like, yeah, I just, I need to. Yeah. I come from like my retail background is like goals, like having something at least to go to.

[01:17:20] So, but yeah, a lot of the ones that I saw that are like the best are non, not like a number or a figure that you're trying to hit. It's more of like, what can you control?

[01:17:34] So for me, like a lot of, instead of saying like, I want to hit a certain amount of subscribers on YouTube this year, I want to hit a certain number of followers or whatever. It's more so like, I want to make four videos a week.

[01:17:47] I want to post more like personalized content on Instagram these days. I want to travel or like go to this many shows. Those are more of the goals that we're setting, which I think is interesting for me. It's just different.

[01:18:05] Usually it'd be like, I want to hit a certain amount of subscribers, but you can't control that. You know, a lot of it's the algorithm. But like, yeah, I think going back to them, I think you asked me about if I'm going to

[01:18:16] Wicked Big Meet or Boxer Fest. We're not doing Boxer Fest this year. I really wanted to, I might try to find a way to be present, but we're going to Grid Life in Connecticut, Lime Rock, the Circuit Legends.

[01:18:30] So it's like a three-day, it's like camping at the track. There's drifting, there's HPDE, there's a bunch of other stuff like that. I think, no, they're not doing off-road. Hyper Fest is, which we're going to in May at VIR in Virginia.

[01:18:46] But those are things that I'm pushing myself to do is like, we always do Wicked Big Meet Boxer Fest. One of the goals that we have is like just getting out more. So like we're definitely going to be doing Wicked Big Meet as a individual, like we'll

[01:19:02] be coming out there with cameras and stuff, talking to people, showing the cars. And then Boxer Fest is the same weekend as Grid Life Circuit Legends in Lime Rock, Connecticut. So it's like a three-day camp at the track event that I've always wanted to go to.

[01:19:18] So we're going to be doing that. So yeah, that's another big goal for this year is just getting out more and doing some Subaru events and some not, but just talking to people, seeing where they're at. Yeah.

[01:19:30] So it'll be good for the business and good for recognition, especially for what you're doing now that you've transitioned to. So it'd be nice to get in front of customers and potential customers and be like, hey, this is what we're doing now. Yeah, totally. Totally.

[01:19:45] So this is a little segment that is a little bit different, but it's getting to know the person behind the account. But I guess this is the person behind Circuit Demon. So who is Jeff? I am a skateboarding, car tuning dad.

[01:20:02] So like I said, I have two kids at home, my lovely wife, Claire. And that's kind of what I have been for the last couple of years is mostly that I think I love racing. I love watching F1. I love watching IMSA.

[01:20:18] Going to the GONA races, we're like an hour from Watkins Glen, which is like a legendary track. Driving on it. I've been doing like HPDEs the last two years, like really into that. So fun getting on the track, actually like driving.

[01:20:30] But yeah, that's kind of me right now. That's good. Yeah. So where were you born? I was born in Arlington, Virginia. So funny enough, that's like where I lived for a couple of years. Yeah. Yeah. What is a favorite memory from your childhood? Oh, man.

[01:20:48] I would probably say like just. OK, actually, I got to go in there's a park like a mile and a half from where I grew up and we used to go on them just like catch frogs and fish and toads and like whatever.

[01:21:01] And I remember one time I got my boots stuck in the mud and I was so worried that my parents are gonna be like extremely mad at me, but they don't really care at all.

[01:21:11] But that's probably that's a core memory of getting my boots stuck in the mud, not getting it out. Yeah. I've done that before. But yeah, so we know what you do for a living. But would you say this is your dream job? Ask me in six months.

[01:21:28] Yeah, I think it was really fun doing like the lighting thing. I think my dream job was definitely always to do more of this side of stuff. So I guess as we start to build things out, like I said, things are things are it's taking

[01:21:43] a little bit longer to like really master some skills that I've had, like with the website, the website. Oh, my goodness. I like babysit that thing. But yeah, I would say ask me and ask me in six months. It'll probably I guarantee you my dream job.

[01:21:58] But I'd say like right now my dream job would be I don't know, like work like in like a race team or something like that. It's just like it's been such a fascination for me over the last like five or six years.

[01:22:09] But like I said, we're about an hour from the track here from Watkins Glen. And another big part of what we want to be offering is like trackside support. So I think that would be cool. Definitely check the boxes of that fascination that I have.

[01:22:24] And I'll be able to do all the other fun stuff that we do here. So yeah. What are some of the hobbies that you have or participate in? Skateboarding. I've been skateboarding since I was 12. I'm 36. It's been a while. Skateboarding with my son. He's scooters.

[01:22:41] But we just go to the skate park and have fun. He got on ramps and everything, which is pretty cool. I like I'm not a artist. I don't consider myself one. I don't just like pick up paper and start drawing. And it looks horrible.

[01:22:55] But I found a new interest in like painting racing helmets. Really? Nice. Yeah, I've done two of them. The one like the first one I ever did, I was kind of surprised like it came out so well.

[01:23:07] And that was a talent painting like with a paint gun that I got through doing headlights. So it's kind of cool, like picking up something that I needed to learn for work and then being able to do something kind of fun with it.

[01:23:18] And I actually recently bought a model set, you know, like the really boring ones at the craft store. Yeah. So I'm going to be trying to paint and put that together myself as well. That's cool. Yeah. Hey, there could be something to this whole helmet thing, you know?

[01:23:35] We'll see. What is something that makes you want to get out of bed every day? Bro, I hate to be that guy. So I'll give an answer to people with kids and people without kids. Because if you have kids, you get it.

[01:23:49] And if you don't, you think it's like the dumbest thing for people to say. My kids, I get out of bed for my like, I love those two. They're so fun. Every day is like certainly a new adventure.

[01:23:58] And they are very receptive to the things that I find fascinating. And that's a good age too. Yeah, dude. My son loves cars, like going to the racetrack, like checking things out. He likes working on cars.

[01:24:12] He just like takes tools and like holds them up against pieces of the car. And it's like, I'm working on this. He has yet to hit the paint with a screwdriver, thankfully. But yeah, it's a really fun age.

[01:24:24] So yeah, getting out, like I said, every day is like certainly just like a day to teach him or be present with them. And then for non-parents, if that's like a really lame answer to you, I would say learning something new.

[01:24:39] Like every day I want to like learn something new, whether it's like about myself, about the people around me, about like the work that I do or like a new skill I can pick up to improve it.

[01:24:48] But even like, yeah, like I said, even like the people around you, like trying to like learn something new about like the people that you spend like your life with, I think is worth the time and energy to do. Yeah, definitely.

[01:25:03] What's something that makes you want to stay in bed? Oh, I would say the wintertime up here, man. The shorter days, it's cold out, the bed is warm. That's honestly probably like mostly it. Yeah, I'd say that the weather currently.

[01:25:21] I would say that based on the last several episodes that I've recorded with people, even ones that I haven't put out yet, it's kind of I guess I'm doing not on purpose, but I'm doing like an East Coast tour.

[01:25:31] And I've had so many people say the cold weather that makes me want to stay in bed. Yeah, we are definitely more grateful when the weather is nice. I think then if somebody like lives in a warm weather only climate. Houston. Yeah, probably. But yeah, I don't know.

[01:25:49] I moved away for a while, right? I went to Virginia and it was fun. It was cool. I think I moved back here, my wife and I, more for family. If we could like uproot everyone that we care about and bring them somewhere, it'd probably be somewhere warmer.

[01:26:04] Yeah, yeah. What would be your best advice to give to someone about anything? Anything? I know that's a broad question, but. No, not at all. I think the last few, like the last six months of like really.

[01:26:27] Like I self, I tore down like something that I've been working at for like years, right? Which is like the lighting thing. And I kind of like put myself out of doing that. And you know, I knew it was going to be difficult

[01:26:44] because you're known for a certain product and you're like literally stopping doing that thing. And it's been tough. Even just like for self identity of like what I do, it's kind of tough. But I would say. Just keep going.

[01:27:01] Try it and if it doesn't work, just take a step back and think about it and try again. And like there's been a lot of really positive days and big wins and a lot of like really negative days and self doubt.

[01:27:15] And if it's going to like work the way that we plan to. Because we have some lofty goals as far as like our standards here that we want to achieve. But I would say like continue to keep trying, communicate with the people around you.

[01:27:29] Let them know where you're at. Let them know if you're in a good spot, if you're not. Not ask for anything, but just like if you don't need it. But just let people kind of be aware and lean on the people around you.

[01:27:42] You know, definitely talk to your family, talk to your friends, talk to your co-workers and let them know if there's something that you don't feel like you can get through. You need a little bit of help. Yeah, that's really good advice.

[01:27:53] And it's because sometimes you shouldn't try to go through things by yourself. Most of the time. Yeah. Well, I want to say thank you for taking the time on, you know, weekend day to get on here and

[01:28:09] share your story and talk about Circuit Demon and your Subaru journey. And I appreciate it. Yeah, thank you. I think you ask really great questions of people. I think it helps tell a story.

[01:28:22] And I think like you asked like really objective questions that allows us to fill that in. And it goes for all your guests. So I do want to thank you for the opportunity. And after months of trying to find some time to work with both of us. Yeah.

[01:28:38] And yeah, it's tough to kind of fit everything in one episode. So maybe like I said, maybe in six months we can revisit it and do a little update or something like that. Yeah, yeah.

[01:28:46] Because I know some of the questions that I had written down, I feel like they kind of didn't apply because you're really just getting into this. So but I mean, like, because like the question about how much of your business, like what percentage is Subaru?

[01:29:00] You were able to answer that, but it's also been fairly new. So yeah, I mean, it's good that you had an answer for that. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thanks again. And yeah, of course. Look forward to keeping in touch and putting this episode out.

[01:29:16] And for any of my listeners that are listening, you know, every episode that are off-roading up in the New England area, specifically around the where you at in New York again? New York, Rochester. Yeah. Rochester.

[01:29:30] Anybody up there that is willing to take him off road and give him that experience? Hit him up. Circuit Demon. I'm in. I'll be a good copilot. I'll bring extra drinks and snacks for everyone. All right. Well, cool, man.

[01:29:44] We'll enjoy the rest of your Sunday with your family. And again, thanks. And we'll keep in touch. Awesome. Thanks again. You're welcome. All right. Bye. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of the Suby and You podcast.

[01:29:58] I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Jeff and learning about Circuit Demon. Go give them a follow on Instagram if you're not doing so and check out their website because as he mentioned in the episode, if there are products that customers want to

[01:30:14] purchase from him, he can ship them out. So you don't have to be located near where he is. However, if you are located near where he is and you would be willing to take him out and

[01:30:27] show him what this off-road world and community is like, I think he would greatly appreciate that and you can show him what it's all about and just have a really good time.

[01:30:38] So, you know, we might end up converting him and, you know, let's see if we could get a really cool shop build for him. You listening, Jeff? A shop build? An off-road shop build? I think that would be really cool.

[01:30:56] So it could be like your fun project and showcase what the other side of Subaru. So thanks again everybody for tuning in. I will see you next Monday. It's going to be the final segment of the 48 Hours of Tri-State where I rode in the car

[01:31:14] with Jeff and then had some conversations at Turn In Concepts with the owner and several other people that were there as well as recording some of the giveaways that they were doing and then a segment that I did.

[01:31:28] So yeah, we'll get that in there and that'll be the last segment of the 48 Hours of Tri-State. So I wanted to break it up some. I didn't intend for it to be broken up that much but I ended up recording some other

[01:31:41] episodes in between getting the last part out. So that's just kind of how it laid out. But thanks again for tuning in and hope you all have a great week and we'll see you next week for another episode. Much Subie love, Raph.