Jesse Stoddard: settings. All right. Okay. So, uh All right, we can get we can get going now. We’ll just drive dive right into it. Okay. Hey, welcome to another episode of the Ride and Style podcast. Today, really excite excited to talk to Scott Blair, the wheelman. Love it. Of 2U Mobile Solutions. Scott, thank you for taking time to chat with us today.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Hey Jesse, appreciate that.
Jesse Stoddard: Awesome.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Thank you for having me on.
Josh Poulson: Uh, whenever I hear a cool title like that, Jesse, I So, I got to ask you, Scott, do is it more or less than 50% of your customers don’t even know your last name? They just know you as Scott the Wheelman.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Um, that would probably be pretty accurate.

Josh Poulson: I know.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): I’m just
Josh Poulson: I just Sometimes when you get a bunch of different customers, right, they
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Yeah.
Josh Poulson: just get to know you.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Yeah. Back in the day, uh, you know, when I was given that moniker, uh, I worked with over 450 uh, retail, you know, mostly tire dealers that, you know, many of them uh, didn’t really sell custom wheels, but somebody walked in the door and said they wanted to buy it. And so, uh, I basically had to do the sale for them over the phone because they didn’t know much of anything about custom wheels. And of course, we’re talking about back in the 90s. And,
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): uh, you know, laugh about it. When I started in the industry, we still sold 13inch custom wheels. You know, they were in stock on the shelf ready for that Nissan Sentra and Honda Civic to to

Josh Poulson: Oh.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): get a custom wheel and still use their 185813 tire, you know? I mean, it’s it’s laughable. We don’t even hardly have trailer tires that small anymore.
Josh Poulson: Right. I know. Not unless you’re working. Not even on the U TVs. They’re bigger than that on UTVs.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Yeah, pretty much. Uh we’re in a market over here where there’s a lot of uh golf carts. Everybody’s upgrading all that stuff. Of course, you know, there’s the manufacturers have got upgrades on those things up into plus 20 size and, you know, for golf carts and and side by sides.
Josh Poulson: Oh my goodness, that’s crazy.
Jesse Stoddard: That’s great.
Josh Poulson: Well, what we usually like to start on your history. Obviously, the Scott the Wheelman caught us off, you know, we wanted to we wanted to get the wheelman behind understand how that came about. But so, how did you start in the industry?

Josh Poulson: Take us back.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Yeah. So, uh I, you know, I stumbled quite literally into the industry. Um, I moved uh out of my local local area that I had grown up in and my when my wife and I got married, we were determined we were going to live somewhere else and go somewhere different. So, we uh we threw a dart at a map, threw everything we owned in the back of a pickup truck and we took off. And so, I really didn’t have any job to get there. Uh, I mean, I was quite literally just waiting tables. And so um saw an ad for American Racing Custom Wheels as you know they were looking for a salesman assistant manager something. So uh you know I put on my suit. I had owned a 1978 Grand Prix Gbody is known to the industry. Uh I’m a huge fan of G bodies.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): I had several and uh had customized it uh way way back. We’re talking like late 80s uh when I was doing stuff. custom paint, wheels, tires, you know, stuff like that. And so I just walked in the door, had on a suit, and they pretty much hired me on the spot. It’s like, you know, I don’t think they were used to something like that, you know, and then I had a college education, and I guess that was like, you know, don’t let them get away. And so I walked into the industry really not even knowing or understanding how wholesale distribution even worked. And uh but within a few months of going through their training program, which was actually quite good at the time, uh I learned how technical that the uh things are with custom wheels. And that’s really what drew me in. You know, my background uh going through college was designing and doing things.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Um got a degree in operations and systems management. So I had an entrepreneurial kind of a road, you know, road course. And so, but getting into getting involved with the custom wheel business that then allowed me the opportunity to go out and then work with dealers and
Josh Poulson: Mhm.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): individuals just trying to figure things out on their own. That’s really what kickstarted it. And then uh a couple years later, I managed to uh get a job working for a company called Hefner Tires and Products as a custom wheel specialist. And uh you may not know those names. Those are some old family names, but you would know what they turned into, which was American Tire Strers. And
Josh Poulson: Yep.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): I was there, I was there as the, you know, one of the few people that sold wheels for the original company before it became what it, you know, what it would come.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): So,
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): that’s kind of where where it started. And in the late 90s, course, we were doing all the uh, you know, I mean, the tires, you know, excuse me, the wheel sizes were just going astronomical. We didn’t even have tires to put on these wheels. And the manufacturers were creating, you know, 20-inch wheels. We were putting them on Suburbans with tires that came on Ferraris because we had, I mean, there was nothing. There was no, you know, truck tire in a
Josh Poulson: No,
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): 20
Josh Poulson: no.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): uh in 1996. So, uh, we were putting these ridiculous tires on there. It wouldn’t even hold the weight. I mean, it’s it’s a wonder we didn’t we didn’t do more damage to the to the world than we did because we didn’t know. And uh but during that process I actually u created and invented a tool called the wheel fit and got a patent on it in 1999. And matter of fact you can see the logo just above my head in the uh in the

Josh Poulson: Mhm.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): training center there. And so that was a that was really cool point of life you know just taking something that was a sketch on a piece of paper and you know spending three and a half years you know figuring it out and then finally getting a getting a patent on that. So that’s
Josh Poulson: So,
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): that’s
Josh Poulson: I got
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): a
Josh Poulson: a question for you. When when you were sell like when you were working for American Racing and even back in the early ATD days, I what what were shops like then? Who were you selling to? I mean, was it the big box chains back even back then or was it all just a bunch of local shops? I’m just just wondering how the landscape has changed over the last 20, 30 years.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): you know it hasn’t changed hardly at all to be very honest. We were we were hugely supportive of independent mom and pop shops.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Some of the largest ones may have had three or four stores and I you know in the market that I was that I was at which was down here in the Mobile, Alabama area. So, you know, we served from a lot of rural communities. So, there wasn’t very many people that had multiple, you know, multiple outlets. And then, of course, there was, you know, one or two of the, you know, the national accounts and stuff like that. Big 10 tires at the time was uh uh was a big account, what we would consider a national account. They were regional. Uh they were actually based here in Mobile before they sold out to Pep Boys. That’s where most of Pep Boys got, you know, acquired a lot of their locations uh in this in this particular area. And we’re talking, I mean, we’re going back 20 plus years now.
Josh Poulson: Yeah.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): But they were, you know, they were one of our our larger what we would consider, you know, a big account and stuff like that, but there wasn’t that much of that. I mean, when I started out, you know, the the car dealerships didn’t even work on their own tires. They they pawn that off to the local tire dealers. And some of the local family accounts uh that we sold to, they had programs to go drive back and forth and go get the cars from the, you know, from the car dealerships. And
Josh Poulson: That’s really changed over the
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): yeah, so you want that’s exactly where I was going. So, you want to talk about a big change, you know, in the early 2000s when corporate mandated that the uh, you know, that the car dealerships started, you know, working on tires and doing their own stuff, then we had, you know, we started to, you know, delivering tires to car dealerships we’d never been to before.

Josh Poulson: H.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): And so, you know, that’s been a biggest part of that is, you know, when they started shifting into trying to do more stuff with with tires to keep that customer coming back in for all the other automotive service because they were losing that to the independence. And you know, anybody that’s been around for 20 plus years, you know, have seen and knew about that. So, uh, you know, they’ve tried to really tie that back, you know, to themselves. And then we’ve got people like, uh, you know, I don’t know if you know Joe Eneratte, but, uh, you know, the Black Widow brand is
Josh Poulson: Mhm.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): a a big, you know, restyle package that’s a, excuse me, that’s available through, you know, through the dealership. You know, it’s fully warranted and there’s other packages as well that you’re that you’re familiar with different parts of the country. And so, you know, that’s been probably one of the largest shifts right there.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): But as far as fundamentally, uh, mom and pops are still grinding away. Um, they’re they’re probably not doing as well as they used to because, uh, you know, we were hurting for people that knew what to do, you know, 20 years ago when I first started creating training products and delivering them through quite literally DVDs that we sold and would mail to people and they would plug them in their DVD player and watch them on the TV. And uh I mean so we were hurting for people 20 years ago. Co pretty much just about wiped that out. So now we’re at a point where unfortunately I see you know an owner of a business you know answering a telephone trying to make a sale hang up from the telephone run to the tire changer to go try to put something on and then tell somebody that was changing oil yesterday who’s now working on the alignment rack which you know which bolt to turn to put it in the green so that we can get it off the rack and get to the next one.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): And so, um, I’ve made it kind of my, you know, what I would like for my legacy to be. And of course, you see the background of the training center there. And we’re in the process of of moving that facility, uh, from where it was at to, you know, we’re looking for a new a new place. But I’ve started creating training programs that are deliverable through the internet and an ondemand basis to to solve this problem. And that’s really where I’m where I’m focusing on going forward here.
Jesse Stoddard: Scott,
Josh Poulson: Nice.
Jesse Stoddard: that’s a good segue I want to ask Now, if you could tell us now more about what what your business is now and what are you guys working on, what’s your role in it and what makes you different and uh we’d love to know more in detail because you gave us the history now. So, what’s happening in in the present day
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Yeah, absolutely.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): So, uh, you know, just to kind of pick up a little bit, in the early 2000s, uh, SEMA asked me to help write what was considered the SEMA custom wheel entire specialist exam was the Z5.
Josh Poulson: Mhm.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): uh you guys in the pro field, you had already developed a few of those because you were trying to find people that could, you know, they had some skill sets, you know, we wanted to identify that, but we didn’t have anything for the tire and wheel market. I was asked to come into that and and I helped write that. Well, I met some people from the tire industry association during that period of time and they were about to come out with real certifications. And so when that launched, I became a certified, you know, automotive tire service instructor and I still hold those credentials today, 20some years later. But that program, and this is what’s going to segue into what we’re doing today.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): So the tire industry that the tire industry program is fundamental, and there’s things in there that even people that have been working 15, 20 years have never been exposed to. They’ve never had any formal training. It’s a foundation fundamental, but their box is typically OEM or something pretty close to it. They don’t like to get outside of that realm into where you and I live, which is aftermarket, bolt-on, raised, lowered, lifted, you know, changed, you know, plus-size, all of that type stuff. They’re they are not ready or, you know, it’s not really where they want to live. And that’s exactly where I’ve bu developed my whole career. So, what we’ve done with the track auto training is is we augment the TIA program. And in doing so, we’re creating content that is real world. We’ll go out quite literally in the field, set up the cameras, and we’ll shoot content revolving around something that is a an issue or a problem that needs to be solved or, you know, you name it.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): One of the biggest ones we’ve just released to a large some large national counts that are looking to buy some products from us from tools. We didn’t invent these tools, but we are a reseller of them. And it’s the two-piece lug nuts that we see common on Ford, Dodge, even Toyota. And uh those things get beat up, rounded off, swollen, corroded to the point that the socket won’t fit. And so there’s a um there’s a a family here in the US in Oklahoma, and they created a tool called a cam lock socket, and it squeezes on the flats of the lug nut. It can even reshape a deformed lug nut and make it to where the factory wrench will still fit back on there or help remove that lug nut so you can put a new fresh one on. And so what we’re creating is content that is exactly like that. And we’re introducing tools, processes to the industry to help, you know, everyone that’s out there in the field trying to just get through each day know how to do the job and do it better.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): The other thing that we’re working on is creating drip content, which is one or two minute videos. And to give you an idea, you know, ADOS is going to be on everybody’s, you know, on everybody’s table from this point going forward. It’s been around for years, but we haven’t really addressed it. Well, well, there’s a lot of vehicles that essentially have to be told that you’re going to lift them before you physically put a jack put a jack underneath them. Uh, I worked on a a Lincoln Aviator not six months ago and uh had to go in use the driver information center there pod right there in the dash and actually tell it I was going to lift the vehicle before I put the airbags underneath and lifted it up so that it didn’t think that we were doing something and it tried to compensate. Which means if I have a jack underneath it and this vehicle isn’t put into lift mode, it may attempt to level itself or compensate in some kind of way that could essentially knock itself off the jack while we’re working on the vehicle.

Josh Poulson: Wow.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): And you know, Tesla’s
Josh Poulson: Just to just to take a wheel off.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): just to take a wheel off. That’s correct. Tesla’s had this for many years. I actually include this in some of our uh current video and it shows how to get in the car. you know, press the brake pedal, find the menu option of jack mode, put in jack mode, and then you actually see the car because I have a secondary camera set up outside, and you see the car lift itself off the ground to its highest point, which then allows us to put our our air jacks underneath there,
Josh Poulson: Wow. And how and do you think that’s just a trend with technology for a lot of the newer vehicles for
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): you know, it just depends on what they want to do, how much they want to how much technology they want to cram cram into these things.

Josh Poulson: Mhm.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Um, you know, how you typically tell if the vehicle’s got this type of technology is are there different selectable driver modes to the suspension? And that’s that’s your that’s usually your first clue that something’s going on as opposed to where you could just normally peek over a tire and just see just a standard, you know, strut sitting there with nothing else going on.
Josh Poulson: So, you know, again, you’re the expert. So, like for instance, I drive um an Acura MDX. So, and it’s got like comfort and snow and sport. Are you talking that that’s the kind of suspension or the the kind of modes that might in maybe either now or in the future also have these kind of
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): That’s
Josh Poulson: um
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): that’s
Josh Poulson: technology
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): correct. That’s correct. Now, the mode you spoke about could be directly related to just simply shift points or how tight the steering gets.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): You know, those types of things because the vehicles have been drive by wire for over two decades. you know
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): there’s I mean we haven’t had you know with the exception of like trucks and various you know more utilitarian type things you know many of the performance vehicles you know we haven’t had a direct link between you know us as the driver and the vehicle in years it’s all we’re making an input that’s telling a sensor that’s talking to another sensor to do something and
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): uh but where you really find that is when you can look and you either can look over the tire and look at where the the strut would normally be and see if there’s more of a canister looking something or another. Um you know there’s magnetic rod number of different ways that they can that they can include this technology. Um but you know that’s exactly what I’m saying and the thing is is there’s no resource to just go okay like take for instance you know I need you know I’m not sure what tire I need let me go click you know year make model trim and it’ll tell us okay well there’s maybe a couple different tire size or something like that.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): you know, there’s nowhere to go that I’m aware of that would say, okay, if I put in these parameters, it’ll tell me if this car has, you know, this type of an active suspension. And if it does, do I even have to tell it that I need to turn it off? Because not
Josh Poulson: Yeah,
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): all of
Josh Poulson: you
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): them
Josh Poulson: would.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): that
Josh Poulson: Well, I mean, you’re So, yeah, I mean, normally when when when a shop’s looking for tires or whatever, they’re put in that they’re putting in even the trim level. And that that information you would think would be available, but it’s not. You’re right.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): no, I’ve even approached ALI, Automotive Lift Institute, and they’re the resource Bible for how to lift up, how to pick up vehicles. Uh we keep these manuals in our mobile tire vans, and I even
Josh Poulson: Yep.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): show them to uh you know, retail tire owners, you know, tire store owners.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Uh because I’ll walk in and I’ll see something being pulled into the shop, possibly something that’s already been racked. And I’ll ask them, it’s like, “So, how’d you know where to pick this vehicle up?” I’m like, “Well, I’ve been picking them up like this the whole time. It hasn’t fallen off yet, so it must be good.” I’m like, “So, where’s your ALI guy?” I literally did this not eight months ago. God had a brand new lift. I mean, this thing didn’t have dirt on it. I mean, the concrete was still, you know, still had dirt where they drilled the holes. And I said, uh, you know, where’s your ALI guy? He had no clue. And I quite literally walked over to the lift and it was still, it still was bandited to the to the post.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): He had no idea. Guy’s been a mechanic for 20 years. He had no idea that that’s that, you know, it was just instructions that no one needs to read. It just, you know,
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): stays on the lift, you know, when they install it. So, the ALI lift guide um would indicate to us lift points, how to pick up vehicles, issues that needed to be uh dealt with, such as, you know, back in the old days, back in the 90s, you know, Ford Link and Mercury, they had airbag, you know, in the rear, and there was a switch, a physical switch that you would have to click either in the trunk or the rear compartment and turn that compressor off before you lift it. And so, you know, that’s why you saw so many of those driving around with the rear bumper almost hitting the grounds because the air system had blown out because they had been lifted most likely without shutting the system off and then it overpressurized, blew out some seals somewhere.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Now you’re now you’re not talking about a simple compressor and some cheap airlines. Now you’re talking about a three or $4,000, you know, you know, mechanical, you know, ride control
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): with electronics and everything else. You know, you start getting into this Porsche type stuff and some of these really high-end cars. I mean, you’re talking $4 to $5,000 per corner if you don’t do this right. Yeah. Go look up Go look up a Porsche Panamera. You want to You want to know how much how much a strutter cost on that? Look one up on that. That’s
Josh Poulson: See?
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): a That’s four plus,000 per corner if you don’t tell that sucker that you’re going to, you know, pick it up and and deactivate that system before you lift it off the ground.
Jesse Stoddard: crazy.
Josh Poulson: Wow.

Jesse Stoddard: Scott, what are some of the biggest challenges in your career? You sort of alluded to a few things, but I I want to hear like maybe overall you you’ve been doing this a long time. What are the biggest challenges and how’d you get through some of them?
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Well, you know, as I mentioned, we, you know, just having our industry understand the complexity of what it is that we’re working on. you know, this isn’t 1988 anymore, you know, and so unfortunately we keep treating it as though it is. And our our idea of hiring doesn’t include anything to do with, you know, do you have a skill set is, you know, can you show up on time? Can you just can you just walk in the building and pass a, you know, pass a drug test? And so the biggest challenges that I’ve had, and unfortunately I haven’t overcome them yet. um trying but it’s just to simply get our industry doesn’t matter if they’re a mom and pop or if they’re you know someone in a large corporate you know corporate entity is to understand that we need to be able we need to be fostering growth in our industry by finding individuals who are excited about coming to work want to be there want to be challenged and then want to grow in that career and that’s the biggest

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): biggest challenge that we have is having our individuals either you know owners or managers understand that if we haven’t learned something today in six months we’re going to fall behind and we’re going to be almost you know we’re going to be irrelevant. That’s why me as an instructor I take it very personal that you know I stay hands-on. I get out I go you know I go work on a mobile van. I go work at shops. You know I have a network of tons of people that constantly send me things. I got one this morning. Quite literally. Uh, one of my guys out in California, Sacramento, sends me a picture, says, “Have you ever have you ever even seen this?” Well, he got a unfortunately he got a armored vehicle in the shop with a 195 and it has this device bolted around the wheel inside the tire so that if the tires get shot out,

Josh Poulson: Wow.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): it’ll rest on this hardened piece of
Josh Poulson: Uhoh.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): whatever that
Josh Poulson: May have
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): was.
Josh Poulson: lost him.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): I’m you know I mean they’ve been beating their head on the wall for hours and he finally just he sends it to me and says dude have you ever in your life I said brother I have never seen that before and but I then turned around I started send it out to various other people you
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): know I haven’t gotten anything back apart from one guy says I know about them but I’ve never touched them but uh but the thing is building that network over 30 plus years having some resources that’s you know that’s really what I’m bringing to the industry is, you know, not just trying to offer a way to teach somebody, but identify individuals that are wanting to to get a get a career in our industry. During COVID, when I launched this program, it was it was the most fascinating thing.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Um, you know, the restaurants were shut down, bars were shut down, hospitality was basically shut down. And during that first 2020, 2021, going into 2022, I taught more people from the hospitality industry who had walked into our industry than I’d ever had my whole career put together. We go to work, signs on the door. Well, you know, somebody coughed yesterday. We got to close and scrub the place down. And they look across the street. Well, we’re wrapped around the building. You can’t get an oil change for three or four days at the height of COVID. I mean, we were just overwhelmed. You know, me personally on my mobile van at the peak of that summer of 2020, I was 10 days out to do any work and I was at 15 hours a day just I mean grinding myself to a pulp.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): It was so bad my wife quit her government job and had to come to work for me to help me. But what I saw was this this skill set of people coming into our industry. Now, they had that customer experience that is unfortunately lacking in our industry quite a bit is that how to communicate, how to work with somebody, walk them through the sale. So, they had that because they made a living making someone feel good about their experience when they went to a restaurant, but they had no technical knowledge. And so what I did is I created content in short videos that we would have a four and a half hour live session just like this in a video conference and I’d have students all over the country, some brand new walked in the door yesterday, some 15-year veterans and I would merge and blend those into that into that classroom. And it was phenomenal to see those individuals, those younger individuals go, “Wow, what’s what’s the next thing that that I can learn? When’s

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): when’s the next class?” I mean, they were literally chomping at the bit. And then I had the veterans going, “Why didn’t somebody tell me this on the first day? I’ve been doing this for 15 years. I’ve been doing it wrong.”
Josh Poulson: School of Hard Knocks. So,
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Well,
Josh Poulson: is that um do you do you are you finding I mean I’m finding it a little bit. It’s still tough to find people, but I I am finding more people now postco that are willing to take a job and learn a trade versus
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): yes.
Josh Poulson: before it was uh no, I’m I’m not interested in working on cars or things such as that. Is that
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): you.
Josh Poulson: the tech is that what you’re finding as well?
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Absolutely, Josh. And I I would have I would have led us in that direction if had you not brought that up.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Let me tell you what’s going on here locally. So, uh I live in I live very near to uh well, I used to live in Baldwin County, Alabama. It’s on the Alabama GF coast. You know, anytime there’s a hurricane, there’s going to be Jim, you know, Jim Corey is gonna be in Bowwin County because storm’s going to come here. Well, the the the Baldwin County school system a few years ago because we have so much industrial stuff that’s come here. We build Airbuses in Mobile at Brookley. Aluminum ships. I mean, we got combat ships that they build right down here at the foot of, you know, uh the the city, you know, that they’ll tell us will do 60 miles an hour on open water. Who knows what the real capability what these ships are? And so our demand for aviation, naval, ship building, all that kind of stuff is just absolutely exploded.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): So the Baldwin County school system, we’re talking like K through 12 now. We’re not talking just the the college type stuff. We’re talking high school. They have gone in and they have built a brand new I mean multi probably 1015 million dollar facility and they’re bringing in instructors teaching construction automotive um other skill sets that are last year I have talked to at least two young guys that were in high school had no ambition of going to college and were looking to go out and start a career in the trades and uh friends of mine that are like me you older veterans and have businesses that can utilize that have partnered with that school so that the instructors know that we’re looking for someone that can come on board and they know the skill sets that we’re needing. I I don’t need a warm body to walk out there and have to explain to them, you know, which end of a screwdriver to hold.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): I need
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): I need somebody that can walk out there. I don’t expect them to know what I know, but I want them to be able to have an ambition to take the next, you know, few years of their life to learn it because there’s a lot there’s a lot to learn. There’s
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): a ton to learn, you know, but if you can give me someone that’s excited and passionate and can see that, you know, a year from now they can be making more money than they ever thought possible and there is no limit, then that’s where we’re at. And to to your point, Josh, I am seeing that in the quite literally the last year. I’ve seen 19 18 and 19 year olds working in commercial tire. They’re not even able to drive the truck yet, but they’re working in the store working on some pretty big serious equipment on some I mean, we’re talking some Earth mover sized tires working, you know, 250 $300,000 stellar industries boom trucks, you know, and

Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): learning how to do things there on site where they’re being trained to in the next couple of years when they can get their CDLs and can climb on the truck, those guys are those guys will make a mint and To to really finish this point off, I met with a friend of mine at SEMA about a year or so ago, and he’s a mechanical engineer, works for an upfitter, one of the upfitters that I’ve used in the past for building these mobile vans. And he made a he made a very prophetic uh point. He said, you know, the next millionaires in our country are going to be those that work with their hands. It’s not going to be these college students. It’s going to be the guy It’s going to be the guys that goes out there and learns how to turn a wrench. I said, my god, man. I said, you know what?

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): That’s probably as about as accurate as you could say. But yeah, I mean, we still have a need for college level type stuff, don’t get me wrong. But you can draw you can draw the best building. You can draw the best car part, whatever you need, you know, design it and everything like that. But if there’s not somebody out there to put it on, it’s all for nothing.
Jesse Stoddard: Scott, I wanted to ask too about your um being your own boss and uh why somebody would want to have a mobile tire business. Do you have a licensing program or what is it? How does somebody get into business for themselves with you guys? I’m I’m curious how that works.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Yeah, that’s a great question. So, there is no real particular licensing and I’ve worked with I’ve worked with guys that came from a automotive background that just shifted into wanting to put tires and wheels on.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): my own business partner, he didn’t have a background in in the tire industry or automotive, but he was a mechanic in aviation. So, he worked on Boeings and Airbuses. So, the aptitude was there. I didn’t have to teach him how to turn a wrench. I just
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): needed to teach him a business model. And that’s what I teach. I teach a business model that we have now dialed in to just about perfection. You know, my business partner’s in Phoenix, Arizona. I mean, he does a ridiculous amount of money out of just a couple of vans, you know, but it’s a huge market. And when I
Josh Poulson: Mhm.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): started here in rural Alabama, I had a business coach and he had seen me progress through the development of this talking about what we’re doing out in Phoenix and I hadn’t I hadn’t done it here yet in Alabama, but when I was ready to do it, I took him a business plan.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): And I handed to him and uh he said, “This thing is absolutely phenomenal.” He said, “But you got one question I need you to I need you to answer.” He said, “You built this based on what you did in Phoenix, Arizona. It’s the seventh largest economy in the United States. How’s this going to work in rural Alabama where we’ve got free roaming chickens and horses walking, you know, walking near the streets a mile from where we’re sitting in downtown Dallas? I said, my you know what, that that was probably that was one of the most prophetic statements anybody’s ever asked me because it forced me to have to go, okay, I’ve got to go prove this concept that I’ve developed worked great in Phoenix. Been doing that for about three years at that point. I’ve got to go see if this will work in rural Alabama. And by God, within 18 months, I bet I was running neck andneck with my partner in Phoenix, Arizona with in regards

Josh Poulson: What?
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): to revenue. So, and I mean, now we’re talking opposite ends of the spectrum. I mean, quite literally, you know, you go two miles outside of downtown where I lived and I mean quite literally they were chickens just free roame. So, I had a lot more territory I had to cover to get what I needed. But the fact was is I was able to apply that same business model to our area and accomplish the same goal. And
Josh Poulson: So is
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): so
Josh Poulson: it is at what percentage of it is like B2B where you’re calling on maybe a dealership helping M out or or maybe another store or is it all B to C?
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): it’s it’s almost all B TOC almost
Josh Poulson: Okay.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): every it now there is a strategy to the types of businesses that we go after uh the industries that we go after because there’s just you know your service industries are going to be at the top of that list.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): I mean they’re running you know they don’t they don’t make a living unless they go somewhere to get you know to get to the work you know landscape
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): pest control construction you know whatever it is so there’s that aspect um there is a uh a level of high performance vehicles the restyle market such as what you guys work with you know I do some of that um but the B to you know the B2B honestly I’ve had uh I get referrals from some of the local automotive repair and tire shops and some of the auto dealerships because they don’t have the tools or the personnel that can tackle some of these things.
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): which is exactly why we’re which is exactly why we’re, you know, partnering with a number of people that can get our training programs into these into these dealerships, whether it’s an automotive dealership or maybe like a uh an independent tire group of some type or an organization that we’re now partnering with a lot of these organizations and providing our training solution as a value ad.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): And that’s the next big next big thing that we’re doing is we’re basically leveraging everybody else to promote the business to their members and giving those members, you know, discounts by clicking on specific links that only they have access to. And that’s where we’re going.
Josh Poulson: That’s awesome.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): But for
Jesse Stoddard: Hello.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): the mobile, but talking about the mobile side, just very quickly, and I I’ll I’ll cut off on that. So we, you know, we’ve sourced a number of specific tools that are extremely valuable not only for us in the mobile side of it, but they work just as well in the retail store, but more importantly, what we’re doing is we’re we’re bringing training aspects to those that are getting in mobile because a lot of them, like I said, not everybody came from a an automotive background. You know, I’ve
Josh Poulson: Mhm.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): taught people that sold satellite dishes and then they got into this business and he’s one of my most successful guys.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): He’s in Missouri. So uh but what we bring the most important thing is I want to bring is it’s not about the van there is a specific layout that makes it extremely uh efficient and able to produce a lot of money but the business model and the business development that we add to that and teach people how to go out and build this business that’s fundamentally what the most important part of it is
Josh Poulson: Yeah, you give them the tools, but you give them the you give them the playbook as well.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): that’s exactly right and so we don’t franchise and I want to make sure that everybody understands that because there are some franchises that are out there and you know that can be a different conversation but I do not franchise. I’m paid upfront for training and business consulting. And then there’s 90-day statement of work that they can bring me, they can keep me on as a fractional COO.

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): As long as they need me and when they’re comfortable and they’ve got PL things in place and they’re they don’t need me any longer, you know what? They can cut the cord and, you know, call me whenever they run into something odd like some armored vehicle tire that
Josh Poulson: Yeah,
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): I’ve never even seen before. Right.
Josh Poulson: but they’ll always have Scott the Wheelman on speed dial. Well, so
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): That’s pretty
Josh Poulson: love
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): much
Josh Poulson: it.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): the way
Josh Poulson: Well,
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): it goes. Yes.
Josh Poulson: that’s awesome. Well, thank you for everything you do for our industry and helping and I mean your knowledge is just that’s the key is how do we get that stuff from, you know, Scott the Wheelman’s head out into the uh thing. So, I mean, Jesse has always one last question to you, but this is going to be very important.

Josh Poulson: So, as you answer him, talk slowly so the people listening can write this stuff down.
Jesse Stoddard: Uh where can people follow you or learn more about what you’re doing? Which websites do you want to share? Please uh help us to learn more. How does
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Yeah,
Jesse Stoddard: where do
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): absolutely.
Jesse Stoddard: people go?
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): So, it’s really easy. So the first one is track t r a c ka autoutotraining.com and that that points you to the website where we have our initiative called rebuilding the automotive workforce in four stages going from video on demand to live uh virtual instruction to hands-on certification. And for those interested in a mobile whether they want to do it as that’s the only thing or if they want to add it to their brickandmortar that is to mobilesolutions.com that’s the number two letter u mobile m o b i le e solutions with an s.com
Josh Poulson: Now, are you only doing that because you’re a mobile Alabama or because it’s mobile on the road?

Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): mobile on the road but fortunately there’s not a whole lot of mobiles anywhere else because for SEO purposes it’s a nightmare because I
Josh Poulson: I
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): can’t
Josh Poulson: believe
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): distinguish
Josh Poulson: it.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): mobile
Josh Poulson: I’ve
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): from
Josh Poulson: got a
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): mobile.
Josh Poulson: mobile route and mobile
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Yeah. So it looks like every single person in mobile is mobile. So my mobile doesn’t stick out. I have to I have to be very creative in uh keywords.
Josh Poulson: Yeah. No, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. Uh, one last question before we let you go because I’ve always I always ask this to tire guys. I see all these tire guys and you’re one of the smartest tire guys. In the future, can we ever just get a tire that’s actually mass- prodduced without air? Can we do it?

Josh Poulson: I mean, I’ve seen them out there, but can we do it or is it just Am I Am I just Am I barking up the wrong tree?
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): for a industrial application such as the Twe that you’ve probably seen, you know, I mean that thing came out 20some years ago.
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): We about it being new, but
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): uh for industrial applications, I don’t know why they don’t build it for off-road. Why do we need pneumatic tires to go crawling over rocks?
Josh Poulson: Thank you.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): It makes the most sense for for things of this nature. Of course, you see them on the on the John Deere Gator lawnmowers.
Josh Poulson: Yep.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): The problem is is, you know, have you priced that have you priced a lawnmower wheel,
Josh Poulson: No,
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): right?
Josh Poulson: I and I yeah, I don’t even I don’t cut my own grass. I have a kid for that.

Josh Poulson: But I I do think that it could be profit, you know, profitable for some tire cut. But I also understand, listen, the last thing what they want to do is create something that’s going to last forever, too.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Well, it’s uh it’s too expensive and I think it it eliminates the individualization, which is exactly what we all make a living on is the
Josh Poulson: True.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): restock. And you know, if you see a if you see the airless tires, they have to have an engineered hub. And
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): I’ve never seen anything that tells me that that can be changed in any kind of way, shape, or form that would let somebody individualize their vehicle. And so as long as that’s, you know, as long as we all want our stuff to look like our own, I don’t think you and I are having any issues with with having a living for the for the foreseeable future.

Josh Poulson: Fair
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Indust
Josh Poulson: enough.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): industrial
Josh Poulson: I consider
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): applications.
Josh Poulson: it settled, Jesse. I consider
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Yeah.
Josh Poulson: the point settled. I’m not asking any more people. I finally asked Scott the wheel guy and wheelman. And so now it’s a dead issue. Jesse, I’ll never ask again.
Jesse Stoddard: I think you nailed it. Thank you, uh, Scott, for your time today. We really appreciate it. And, uh, we’ll look and maybe there’ll be a part two because you have a lot of great knowledge and wisdom to share. got all this stuff, we’ll share it with you and let the world know.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): That
Josh Poulson: Yeah.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): sounds great, Jesse and Josh, thank you all for your time. I greatly appreciate the opportunity.
Josh Poulson: All
Jesse Stoddard: Awesome.
Josh Poulson: right, buddy. We’ll see you at SEMA. Take care.
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): Alright, thank
Jesse Stoddard: Okay,
Scott Blair (Scott the Wheelman): you.
Jesse Stoddard: goodbye.