Episode 5: Colby McLaughlin’s Interview
00:00 Hot Takes
00:58 Introduction & Background
16:08 Challenges & Triumphs
23:20 Evolution & Trends
33:47 Unique Selling Proposition & Memorable Moments
41:57 Business Strategies & Partnerships
46:15 Handling Challenges & Interactions
49:33 Advice & Forward-Thinking
54:39 Final Takeaways & Recommendations
Every car enthusiast dreams of having their vehicle mirror their character and lifestyle. That’s where automotive restyling comes into play, embodying a unique blend of art, passion, and mechanical innovation as such, I recently had the honor of sitting down with an industry pioneer, Coli McLaughlin of Trim Illusion.
A Meeting of Car Aficionados
Colby McLaughlin is the president and managing partner at Trim Illusion and Land-to-Sky Holdings, a SEMA board member, and chair of SEMA PRO. He joined us on our Ride-in-Style Podcast’s fifth episode, where we delved into his journey in the automotive restyling industry and his insight into its future trajectory.
Starting as a Benevolent Gearhead
As a young man who loved cars and sought innovation, Colby’s journey started with his passion for automotive design. His experience building prototypes for big automotive companies like Ford and Lincoln allowed him to understand the technicalities behind customizing vehicles. However, his venture into working directly with auto dealerships and customers helped him appreciate the true beauty of aftermarket customization – bringing a unique car vision to life.
Pre-eminent Innovations at Trim Illusion
One of the latest innovations at Trim Illusion was our “windowsill trim overlays.” We’ve successfully found a solution to the troublesome peeling often experienced when a car’s chrome trim is wrapped by making easy products to snap on and significantly reducing the time taken in the wrapping process.
Conquering Challenges
Within every industry, there are challenges to overcome. Our car restyling industry was no exception – we’ve had to contend with COVID-19 and the consequential supply chain issues, the shift towards electric vehicles, and changing consumer trends. However, we’ve grown and evolved in tandem with these shifts through adaptability and resilience.
Looking to the Future
As for the future of the auto restyling industry, the key to growth and development lies in innovation. Rather than focusing solely on electrification, the industry should encourage various other fuel alternatives and let market competition spur technological advancements.
Career Advice for Aspiring Restylers
Getting started in the industry might seem daunting for young, aspiring car restylers. Colby’s advice? Get involved with organizations like SEMA PRO. They have a wealth of experience and are more than willing to mentor new entrants into the industry. Also, start reading from an early stage – books give you an expert’s insight without accruing college debt!
In the ever-evolving world of automotive restyling, staying informed and adaptable are keys to making your mark. Connect with industry leaders, keep learning, and fuel your passion like Colby Mclaughlin did. Who knows? You might be the next trailblazer of the auto restyling universe.
Read The Transcript
Jesse Stoddard: How about the industry? When you think about how much things have changed, how has it changed since you first got involved and all, and more importantly, like, where do you
see things heading in the future? Colby Mclaughlin: Great question. As far as PRO goes; we just did a SEMA news article that just came out a
couple days ago that we talk about this. Our side is constantly evolving, right?
PRO evolves as trends evolve. Whether it’s what’s in style? Is it overlanding?
Is it Landau roofs? Is it, Wire rims. What is it? It changes with you. Yeah, I know not Exactly.
Exactly, right? So it our side evolves is that Josh is doing a lot of lifts wheels and tires he’s doing fleet.
He’s doing PPF. So our guys have to just change with how the industry trends are changing.
Ride-in-Style: Welcome to the ride in style podcast, your turbo charged pit stop for automotive restyling buckle up with Jesse and Josh.
Introduction & Background
Jesse Stoddard: Welcome to another episode of the Ride-in-Style podcast today. We’re joined by Colby McLaughlin.
He’s president managing partner at Trim Illusion and Land-to-Sky Holdings, a SEMA board member and chair of SEMA PRO.
Colby’s expertise spans from OEM prototype builds to leading the aftermarket space with innovative.
I would say it sounds like he’s a true enthusiast, both, both in business and in personal life where he enjoys outdoor adventures and
apparently Caribbean getaways as well. Josh Poulson: Oh, what a rock star.
What a Colby Mclaughlin: I know, right? Well, what one correction and maybe this is for seeing the future. I’m not on the board. Uh, I am on the PAC board and and SEMA pro.
But thank you for the kind words. I Josh Poulson: well, you know, so eventually you will be on the board. So we’re the ones that are trying to push your campaign.
So Colby Mclaughlin: that. I appreciate that. Jesse Stoddard: Awesome. Cool. Josh Poulson: Well, you know, it’s awesome to have Colby on because, uh,
I mean, Colby and I worked real well together and really closely over the last, four, three or four or five years.
Um, and, uh, you know, Colby. He has really aged a lot in this last four or five years.
He used to be the young guy and with the other energy and now he’s got all this experience and wisdom and so it’s really showing up in his beard, I feel.
Yeah, Colby Mclaughlin: cracker barrel dinner at 4 PM and bed right after. So I’m there. I’m right there with
Josh Poulson: that’s why we had to push this up just because he goes to bed so early.
So uh, Colby Mclaughlin: My wife would agree. Josh Poulson: Jesse, if you don’t know a lot about Colby, Colby is, you know,
relatively young in this business. Um, even though he’s… He’s been around for a while, but he’s hit the ground running, man.
I mean, he’s doing everything, volunteering here and doing this for SEMA and for, you know, um, a lot of, a lot of it, he has a lot of people with,
with his company that he helps out. So, you know, it’s awesome to have him on, but the reason why we wanted
to have him on is because he’s the current chair of SEMA Pro, the professional restylers organization.
He does work with other, the SEMA organizations, we’ll touch on that, but you know, we really wanted to kind of tap his brain to find out.
Cause he’s at the forefront of leading this restyling organization and the members of where we’re going.
So maybe we, maybe we start there, Jesse. Let’s find out from this genius prodigy of, you know, so many people.
Where, where are you taking the professional restylers organization? Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah, great question.
So, I mean, first, I always thank my mentors and the people who paved the way before me.
I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for those people. Josh, you and Dino included, and everybody in the group on our select committee.
I mean, we’re lucky to have so many very enthusiastic, smart people from different parts of the segment of Pro that really run this thing.
And I’m humbled and fortunate to take that chair role and to be able to serve with those people. But, you know, really where we’re going and this term has been interesting.
Dino’s term hit right during COVID. Everything changed. You know, your chair came in right after COVID and now dealers are
evolving and they’re selling process. Now, you know, with my chair term, we’ve got, you know, the UAW strikes
and inflation and, and the buying process of vehicles is changing the way dealers present vehicles are changing.
It really, really hits our segment in an interesting way. And even talking to Kevin Gillis, who’s our chair elect, um, he says in, in all
the years in the businesses, he doesn’t remember ever, uh, interest rates being.
Uh, thing, you know, a hitch from somebody buying a vehicle and because we went
from COVID to where people were just, you know, anybody could borrow at 0%. Now the banks, you know, book of business is so risky, you know,
people even in the 7800s are having a hard time getting bought. So it’s just an odd, odd time right now to be chair, but I’m excited.
Um, I think we’ve got some really exciting things going on. Josh Poulson: Is it, did, was there any excuses in
Jesse Stoddard: I didn’t. Josh Poulson: Jesse? Or do you feel like, I mean, I feel like he set it up like, listen, this may not work out great.
So if this all happens, it’s not because of me, but I don’t know. You, I love, what was your, Jesse, what was your
Jesse Stoddard: thought it was a really diplomatic and political answer. I like it. I appreciate good diplomacy.
So that was great. Josh Poulson: Okay. Well, he is, he’s, he is the diplomat. In fact, that might be his new Jesse Stoddard: The diplomat.
Colby Mclaughlin: diplomat. Don’t do it. Jesse Stoddard: Um, Colby, I, if you don’t mind, let’s go back a little bit
and I would love if you could describe your background and journey before and into the auto restyling industry.
And how’d you get started with it? So I love a good story. If you could go back and tell me what happened before and what
built into that and what were you doing in the early years? Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah.
Um, great question. I’ve, I’ve always been one that I feel like I was in the right place, right time.
I mean, I, I, I don’t. I’m not so humble to say that I didn’t put in the work to get there, but
a lot of my career has been timing. I was in middle college. Uh, if for people who may not have middle colleges, basically the
state will come and say, Hey, we’re gonna give away technical degrees. Um, we’ll do you in advance high school and then you’ll go into
college will give you credits and to go into a technical field. So I come from a very blue collar family.
Um, I got accepted. I was a sophomore in high school. So you leave And then you go into the college campus by with different
teachers, and they basically give you the last two years of high school and about two semesters. And so it’s really advanced on that, you know, a lot of time.
And then I get into, um, the college courses, right? And I have to choose what I want to go down. I love cars.
I’ve always loved cars. My dad loved cars. It was always on TV when I was a kid, catalogs, magazines, everything.
And so I wanted to get into automotive. My parents said, no way. We don’t want a gear head. Uh, you know, we need you to be the white collar now, right?
So they put me in business management and I I hated it. I hated it. I hated everything about it.
And, uh, Washtenaw Technical, uh, Community College at that time was doing, uh, Custom Cars and Concepts program.
So it’s basically an advanced of the collision side of things where they’re working on, on custom cars. And I go in there and there’s motorcycles and lower vehicles on
air ride suspension and hot rods. And I was like, Oh my God, this is it. And, uh, it was really cool.
I get into the collision side. I pushed through that, get into the advanced side of things, and they
had just started, we were in the back backyard of the big three, right? We’re in Southeast Michigan. So we’ve got Detroit right there. We’ve got all the OEMs and GM performance parts comes to the couch and says, hey,
we’re releasing our new 572 crate motor. We want you guys to build a Chevy, uh, a Chevelle.
It was a 70 Chevelle and we want you to put the 572 in it. It’s going to be on the catalog. We’re going to do an episode of rides on TLC, which I didn’t disclose
until Josh found it because it was a blonde highlight slicked back, a creepy mustache, the shell necklace.
So I don’t tell many people about it, but now that it’s out, it Josh Poulson: I have the pictures, Jesse. I have the picture.
The frosted Jesse Stoddard: We’re going to make that the cover of this episode. It’ll be so Josh Poulson: Yes. Yes.
Boy band, Jesse Stoddard: Backstreet Boys McLaughlin. Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah, exactly.
So, uh, the diplomat. So we build this 70 Chevelle is awesome. Like I said, we had a, uh, an episode on rides, which was at
the same time as overhauling. And, uh, it was on the hot rod power tour. They send us out to seem and this is 2005.
uh, fast forward. We’re at the show. I meet a couple of gentlemen, find out that they own a, uh, OE concept
company in Plymouth, Michigan, not, not, not far down the road from me. So they offer me a position over there. So we were basically a glorified body, man, you know, at that point in time.
So we. We did a lot of cool stuff. We did all the OEM. I wouldn’t say all of them. We did a lot of the OEM, uh, releases that would be at the Detroit auto show.
At that time, Detroit was at the front end of the North American international auto show. So this is where Lincoln for the black tie events.
This is where all the OEMs were releasing their new models or the concepts of those. So we built, um, the Chevy bolt, the Ford super chief that was on time magazine.
This was an enormous truck. It was actually. If I remember correctly, the most expensive concept vehicle that Ford ever built.
It was enormous. If you, if you search Ford Super Chief, you’ll find it. Um, and, uh, Lincoln MK.
And they, it, it’s so crazy, the amount of detail and money that the OEMs used to put into concepts.
I mean, there was something exciting about releasing these vehicles. And part of, we, we can talk about, you know, what our, our, the group’s idea for
the new car show was, was to inject that. Enthusiasm into the consumer side of things because I seen pictures of
Detroit auto show this year and it was It was a fraction of what it used to be.
I mean, this was the big event in Detroit. People will come in from all around the world. So I did.
I worked on that. And then in the off season, when it wasn’t show car season, we would build hot rods. We built. We have built a lot of SEMA builds for the U.
S. Ski team. Um, we did some with Uh, foam master flex.
Yeah. We did a lot of vehicles there. It was, it was interesting, but we were one of only three companies in the world that could do everything on a concept vehicle outside the glass.
So Ford would send us the CAD scans. We would build these huge armaments with foam.
Take a five axis mill, take them down. We would clay model the vehicles. And then at that time, it would be this, we would just make this
huge fiberglass real size body. Right? And then we would put it on a subframe.
And one of my favorite ones we built, and this is kind of a cool story. So there was a, a, a.
A company came to us called Carbon Motors, and what they wanted to make is their idea was, hey, every municipality or county or state, they go buy a Ford Explorer, they
go buy a Crown Victoria, and then they completely strip it to make it a cop car. So why don’t we make our own cop car?
And then, you know, a city can come in and say, hey, here’s our logo. And then they can a la carte, add things like, um, sniffers for, for
biological weapons or whatever. I mean, it was supposed to, it was suicide doors, all that. So.
We spent a lot of time in clay modeling on this, sometimes what looks good on the 3D, then you get it in real size and you’re like, oh, this, this looks horrible.
So we, we constantly, we kept changing the rear end of this thing and then we got to it and they said, all right, this vehicle from, from our factory
is going to have a V10 diesel, but there’s no V10 diesels in the states. On on a car.
So we had to bring in a seven series from Germany still had the maroonie stickers on it. I mean, this was like, an 80, 000 seven series at that time.
1st thing we start doing is we grabbed the sawzalls and we start cutting this thing up, right?
Because we only need the subframe in the drive train. So we do that. We put the body on it and, uh, And it’s just it was really cool.
I mean, like I said, it was suicide doors. It was totally custom. We did a few different color variations on it. But after that vehicle was released, I got a call from one of my buddies,
you know, come from the video game age. And he says, You won’t believe what I’m staring at on need for speed.
He says that carbon motors car you painted is one of the special unlocks for the police cars.
So it was just it was super cool. Unfortunately, unfortunately, Um, things didn’t work out with that company ended up going bankrupt and they sold the concept, but if you search for the Carbon
Motors E7 concept vehicle, that’s it. And it was, it was so cool to work with.
Um, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was cool. Josh Poulson: So you’re basically saying you like cars. Is that, I mean, is that kind of what I’m hearing here?
That, I mean, so what, so I, I real quick before Jesse gets into, uh, uh, another question.
Why, why do you like cars? And then your next love is. Deep sea diving. How do those even go together?
Like, did you one day get in a boat or a car, drive off a cliff, all of a sudden you’re at the bottom of some ocean, and you’re like, oh, this is kind of cool,
Colby Mclaughlin: This is cool. Yeah. Josh Poulson: Well, how did you get into deep sea diving? Colby Mclaughlin: Actually diving is something I’ve, my dad always
had aquariums, saltwater aquariums. I’ve had aquariums or something just fascinating about.
The deep sea. I mean, it’s so unexplored. And I will tell you, people who know me, I’m, uh, I’m a pretty energetic person.
Um, and I don’t take time to slow down. I don’t meditate.
I don’t do any of that. And diving is the one thing that forces you to focus on your breath.
And it’s just, it’s Definitely quiet, like you’re just down there and you
just hear bubbles and it’s just an honor under the water is so cool. I love it. It’s it’s relaxing until you get caught in a current and
you’re getting hit off rocks. That’s probably one of my least exciting things about diving. But cars again, that cars 67 Camaro growing up.
Um, he had a lot of cars, but when I was young, he had a 67 Camaro and actually it was, uh, it was stolen.
When I was a kid, a 67 Camaro was stolen and, uh, goes through some hands and these, these two attorneys in Detroit, it was on the local news,
but these two attorneys in Detroit buy it and they go to NPD to buy a piece of windowsill trim for it.
And if you know about first in Camaros, uh, with the smoker vent window on the 67s and, um, they had.
The people that stole it had, um, retitled it as a 69 and so they go in NPD and
like, this is, this is a 67 and those lawyers went through everything and end up getting back to my dad, but it just cars were always, uh, growing up.
I mean, it was Mecham auto auction. There was, um, you know, catalogs all over. I mean, that’s
Jesse Stoddard: And then, and then in terms of the business, your actual business now, how did you start that?
How did you get into that? Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah, great question. So, um, leaving the OEM, I got, I got called by my uncle.
He worked for a company called Chrome Enhancements and he was in the west side of Michigan. He says, Hey, you really need to look at this.
And I laugh at him. I said, I’m working on like 25 million concepts. You want me to go sell hubcaps?
Like, come on now, seriously. And he says, just give it a try. It, you know, it’s, you could be really successful at it, especially
in the Southeast Michigan. So I, my boss is new, you know, they said, listen, Colby, if you, if it doesn’t work out, you got your position back here, so don’t worry about it.
So I said, all right, no risk. I looked at the guys around me. We worked, you know, 120 hour weeks. Uh, you know, at doing prototyping, it was a hard life.
I looked at the people around me. They lived hard lives. Uh, there were no soft deadlines for the Detroit Auto Show.
Right? So I said, all right, uh, you know, this is a no risk thing. I’ll jump in, had really good success with it in Southeast Michigan and
Chrome Enhancements was a big customer of Trim Illusion at that time. And so.
You know, I got to know Najee throughout the years, um, and I loved his enthusiasm,
his, his thought, thought process. He’s an entrepreneur at, by heart and, um, you know, he came to me and said, Hey, do
you want to, do you want to come run this? I need help. You know, I want to focus on the manufacturing side, but the day to day stuff I don’t want to get involved in.
So here we are. And that was, that was almost, that was a little over five years ago. Jesse Stoddard: Great. That’s awesome.
Challenges & Triumphs
Can you can you share some of the biggest challenges that you faced in the industry and how you’ve overcome them?
You know, I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of challenges and a lot of bumpy stuff.
Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah, there, there are a lot of challenges. Um, you know, especially on the manufacturing side, you want to be first to market, but then you need to make sure the product’s right.
So how you balance that. Um, if anybody knows Najee, he’s let’s, let’s do it and let’s do it now.
And so, you know, we, we work well together and kind of meshing that together.
You know, obviously the dealer world is Josh knows, you know, a large part of our business to is we have routes that sell product to dealerships.
So we have a lot of remote salespeople is a challenge. You know, Covid has helped overcome some of those remote things.
I’m sorry that the technology has helped overcome some of those things for remote employees. But you know, our business ways with the dealers, you know, if a deal we feel it
About three weeks after dealers feel it, that’s when it kind of trickles to us. So, you know, these past three, four years where, you know,
new inventory was nothing. And then, you know, there were no new cars and then used inventory. They’re getting, you know, 50 percent over book on and, and, you know, and so
dealers are grossing as much as they can. And then that dries up and then the book’s changing. So it’s, you know, we’ve evolved.
Our, you know, our direct consumer side of things has grown a lot, uh, in the past few years. And we knew that that was a vertical that we needed to explore.
Um, but it’s just ever evolving, you know, uh, you wake up every morning and you’re wondering what, what curve ball you’re going to get thrown today.
But, um, thankfully we have a phenomenal team. Um, they, they pivot well, they did pivot well.
Um, and, and yeah, we just keep growing. Josh Poulson: Um, they, they pivot well, they did pivot well, um,
and, and yeah, we just keep going.
And then what happened when you got there, that’s what I want to, so, I mean, it’s one thing to sell to some guy like me, but it’s another thing to make a commercial.
So tell us about the commercial you guys recently did. So
Colby Mclaughlin: you know, we want to be the, the Q tip or the Kleenex to trim products, you know, where that’s, we are the house name to that.
Um, and so we shot a couple commercials, had a couple different iterations of what we were going to do, but, uh, one of them was a husband washing his car and his wife
comes out and says, dinner’s almost ready. And then he says, all right, I’ll be in a minute, honey. And then he gets the idea.
I’m gonna, I’m gonna change this thing up. I’m gonna snap on a bunch of T. I. Stuff. And she comes out and she’s like, I thought you were washing
the car, not buying a new one. So the morning we are, we’re going to fly to Phoenix just to oversee it,
make sure everything goes smoothly. And I show up Monday morning. And then People know I like my loud Johnson and Murphy, uh, button ups.
I just, I like, I like button ups and I almost wore one and I didn’t. I was like, I’ll just wear a plain gray t shirt.
And I show up and, and, uh, my friend, Jim Weaver, who was the director of agency over at revolution parts, he slaps me on the shoulder.
He says, the husband didn’t show up. You’re the husband. I’m like, Oh, great. Well, I’m glad I didn’t wear my button up or that would have looked
really odd washing a vehicle. And then the second commercial we shot was, uh, two guys trying to get,
you know, hit on a couple of girls and the girls aren’t interested. They walk past their vehicle and the guys, and then they go eat and
then they come out and they had just changed the vehicle with our products. And they’re like, Oh, I love your vehicle.
Uh, so they were Josh Poulson: that reminds him of the, of high school, right?
That’s, you know, if you would have only had your own trim products back in high school, you would have gotten so many more dates, you know, so, uh.
Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah. Well, the cool thing is too. So we were running those ads on, um, like geo geo targeting around SEMA.
And I couldn’t believe how many people came up to us who had seen the commercials of scrolling on Instagram and Facebook while at the show.
And one guy comes up to me and says, Hey, I heard your product picks up chicks. So it’s like, all right, perfect. So we’re getting the point across that we’re trying to do.
So yeah, the, the, the commercials were fun. I will tell you. Hollywood can keep it.
I’m I’m told I love the aftermarket. I have no interest in going into Hollywood.
Five hours of snapping our products on and off is enough for me. I’m good. But they did a phenomenal job editing.
I love our Jesse Stoddard: That’s great. It sounds like you’ve had a lot of success, actually, like one after the other. Things have been pretty progressive, but was there any failures in
there over, over the years? Anything that you tried that didn’t work? And that in heights, in hindsight, when you look back on it, it
led to learning and growth and. Colby Mclaughlin: Oh, my goodness. I how long is this podcast?
We’re going to talk about failures, man. Uh, you know, yeah, listen, it happens, you know, and that’s That’s
part of being in business, right? Is you’re going to try things, especially when you have an entrepreneur spirit.
You’re going to try things and some things don’t work, but you have to learn from those. Um, one of the biggest things is, you know, I would say one of our most
expensive mistakes was during COVID. You know, our warehouse in Maryland, because they were telling
people they couldn’t go to work. You know, we had to figure out something. We don’t want our people on unemployment. If we could if we could stand it, we wanted our people
to stay gainfully employed. So we started a business that was doing PPE, not just distributing it,
you know, but also manufacturing. So we had these mesh bags that would have wipes and a mass
everything that we manufactured. And, uh, You know, it was that that was a challenge.
Realize that we’re in a pond and we were the smallest fish. When you start talking about some of these very large companies, we it was.
It was fun. It kept her again. It kept her people employed and busy, and that was why we were doing it.
But that was a big learning mistake to stay in your lane, understand your capabilities.
Um, and yeah, that was that was probably the biggest one. But constantly, you know, we we learn we have challenges.
Um Jesse Stoddard: How about the supply chain issues and the low dealership inventory, the economy, you know, how, how have you navigated all that and,
and how has it impacted the business? And you mentioned it earlier a little bit.
Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah. So supply chain, you know, obviously we manufacture overseas with injection molding.
Um, you know, uh, supply chain with COVID was difficult, you know, containers go from 4, 000 to 28, 000, right?
And you can’t necessarily just pass that cost onto your customer. So you had to deal with degraded margins.
And, you know, we overcame that. We made, we made some pivots. We opened up our own routes. Uh, we, we opened up our direct to consumer channel, which helped kind of
alleviate some of that margin degradation. Um, you know, but we, we overcame that.
And it was at that point in time, everybody was dealing with it. It was hard to even get, you know, a spot on a ship. So we’re trying to bring out new products, bring out new inventory.
Couldn’t trying to resupply the stuff that are, we were selling like crazy online, you know, had to, had to figure out ways, um, to, to overcome that.
So it’s, it’s, it seems like COVID was a blur, but there’s certain parts about it that, you know, you really remember and learn from.
Evolution & Trends
Jesse Stoddard: How about the industry? Like how, when you, when you think about how much things have changed, How has, how has it changed since you first got involved and all, and
more importantly, like, where do you see things heading in the future?
Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah, great question. Um, as far as pro goes, I mean, you know, pro, uh, we just did a SEMA news
article that just came out a couple days ago that we talk about this as far as pro goes, you know, our, our side is constantly evolving, right?
Our, our pro evolves as trends evolve. Um, whether it’s, um, you know, what’s in style?
Is it overlanding? Is it Landau roofs? You know, is it, Wire rims. What is it? You know, it changes it changes with you.
Yeah, I know not Exactly exactly Exactly.
Exactly, right? So it our side evolves is that you know, Josh is doing a lot of lifts wheels
and tires You know, he’s doing fleet. He’s doing PPF. So our guys have to just change with With how the industry trends are changing.
Um, you know, we have to get creative, whether it’s ev uh, whether it’s, you know, mandates in, you know, in Georgia there’s a, a lifted truck mandate.
They can’t lift a truck over there, right? So Georgia Restyle is, okay, well then, you know, if that’s 20% of
your business, well we gotta find that other 20% somewhere else, right? So it’s just constantly evolving as, as legislation evolves, as trends
evolve, as consumer demand evolves, Jesse Stoddard: Where do you think it’s going? Like, if you, I know you don’t have a crystal ball, but if you
had to like make some predictions. Colby Mclaughlin: Ooh, uh, I think ev it’s.
I think a lot of us foreseen EV wasn’t going to, it’s not sustainable, um, whether you want to talk about the rare earth mining across, you know,
overseas, uh, it’s not sustainable. Our infrastructure is not sustainable.
Uh, the amount of, you know, travel people have to do if you’re talking about inner city, all that. So I think we’re going to see some evolution or iterations of
what the power train thing sees. And that’s really what we’re doing on the PAC side is, you know, just making
sure that people know that there’s. There’s other, uh, there’s other, what am I trying to say?
What we’re trying to do is educate people that there are other solutions out there, even fuel alternatives, not just EV doesn’t have to be the only
one and let the marketplace decide. Um, the previous CEO of Toyota, you know, he came out and said, you know,
when everybody was making this huge EV push, all the OEMs, because the shareholders are like, we got to go, we got to double down on this.
Toyota said, we’re going to continue making the products that we make with a wide variety of vehicles.
And let the marketplace decide what they want. And that’s really what we, what we stand Josh Poulson: on.
Uh, to, to lead the charge. How do you think SEMA is doing it, because I know you’re very involved
on that when it comes to government legislation and things such as that. How can SEMA or people in general that might be listening, how can
they, how can they have a voice and help to make sure that there isn’t Jesse Stoddard: Right.
Innovation Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah. So Jesse Stoddard: Right. That was kind of the point. Josh Poulson: Yeah, that’s what he said.
I only, as soon as Ian starts talking, I just perk up. You know, he’s, he’s almost as good looking as Colby, but it,
you know, it’s one of those things that they both, they both are very in tune to, um, what is going on within SEMA, but also what’s needed.
So speak to, speak to what, what people do. Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah. Great question.
And I’d love to hear that you guys had Ian on. Phenomenal guy and probably the best person of the year that I can remember.
So I’m glad you guys Josh Poulson: man. Ouch. Ouch. Colby Mclaughlin: Just kidding.
I listed out of the three of three of you guys. I’m the only one. So that’s not on there. So, uh, no, I Yes, innovation over legislation.
Again, I think that goes back to the root of our constitution. And what we do is, is that allow the people to make the
decisions and govern themselves. And, um, you know, a lot of what the PAC’s doing, or just, I will
not, not the PAC, but even just to see the SEMA, uh, DC team. Both from federal, state, local grassroots is just educating people, right?
So many people are on our side, but don’t know the laws that are being passed. I mean, we’ve got your, you know, with your eye, with our phones, with TV,
with social media, with family life. It’s very hard to even be involved in a lot of these things, but they do stand behind us.
I mean, when we did, uh, SEMA did an economic poll states like Ickesima are doing an economic poll. You know, one, we have a 336 billion economic output the aftermarket, so
we’re bigger than the beverage industry were bigger than the aviation industry. So we’re a large industry.
And I think that that is is very understated the impact that the aftermarket has. And when legislation is written, whether it’s not passing a right
to repair or right to modify, how many families does that impact? Um, if you take away those, the ability for people to run those businesses,
um, and education, like there was a poll in Virginia that, so there are
states, so you have California has what’s called ACC two, which is, um, they’re basically, they’re ramped a way of getting people to EVs where only EVs
can be sold in the state of California. And there are states that are attached to that. Many of which don’t the voters in those states don’t even know.
So Virginia is one of them. They polled Virginians. It was over 60 percent of Virginians, uh, didn’t know that they were attached to ACC
2 under California, and they would have to follow the same timeline that California was pushing to get towards Evie only and.
You know, there was a great speech by one of the governors. His name escapes me, but he said Virginia law should be
written by written by Virginians. And that’s the biggest thing is, is just educating people what these
things mean when we talk about easy. Yeah, you’re not you’re not going to the fuel pump.
But look at all the emissions that are coming from China and the Congo in
order to get those lithium batteries. What’s the recycling process after that? When you’ve got thousands of little lithium batteries in an epoxy, right?
How are we going to recycle these after that? So there’s so many different things that We’re not ready for, and we shouldn’t
be pushing legislation like that. And instead, like Ian said, encourage people to innovate, encourage
people to be entrepreneurs, get the youth involved and say, we need better emissions on our vehicles.
How do we Jesse Stoddard: Great. How do you stay up to date on all the latest trends and technologies in this industry?
And I mean, are there specific? Colby Mclaughlin: Josh’s Josh’s social media. Josh Poulson: and No, my podcast.
Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah. Your podcast. There you go. Exactly. Yeah. Josh Poulson: yeah, that’s my social media, which is weak. I mean, he’s, he’s the social media monster man.
This guy, I don’t know how he does it. I’m like, he’s commenting on everything I possibly see. I thought I said.
Doesn’t he have a job? I thought he had a jo I thought this guy had a job. And I know Trim Illusion, maybe they pay him per post.
I don’t know, or per response. But this guy is all over social media. But how do you stay up to date with everything that’s coming from
Jesse Stoddard: Resources, publications, the events. I mean, you’re, are you at everything? Are you reading everything? Like, how, how do you, how do you do that?
Colby Mclaughlin: Great question. I try to stay up to date on as much stuff whether it’s, um, I
get emails from either seem action network, which is a free email. You can sign up for that. They’ll notify you.
Hey, this is passing in this area. It’s just everything as far as the political legislation goes. And you can even have easy ways of being able to send your lawmakers and no, all
you have to do is put your name and where you live and they’ll automatically send. So that’s a huge push for us to make sure that we’re having constituents in those
areas telling Speaker Lawmakers that they agree or don’t agree with something. Um, the SEMA pros, social media, uh, it keeps, keeps me up to date.
Facebook, Instagram. I mean, they’re posting stuff from manufacturers from different restylers, different builds. So helps us from our creative phase of when we manufacture products.
Is there a new product segment that we want to go down like windowsill trim? Um, you know, and, and we’ll, we’ll kind of get ideas from that.
Um, those are the big ones. Shop magazines, a phenomenal magazine and e news article to stay up to date.
Uh, aftermarket news, um, SEMA Jesse Stoddard: reading, and you’re reading all of Colby Mclaughlin: of emails.
I’ll listen. I’ll browse. I’ll Josh Poulson: wife Lauren reads it to him. Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah, there you
Josh Poulson: for, you know, and that’s how he goes to sleep every night. But, you know, I think we would be remissed if we didn’t talk a little
bit about the new products that TI has coming out, that people that has
you excited, that maybe shops can be excited or just customers at large. Talk to us a little bit about the new stuff that you have coming
out that’s got you excited. Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah. Uh, great question. Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.
I, we are so excited about. Our windowsill trim overlays. We’ve been asked for years to make these.
We finally got the technology and process behind it. So one of the pain points of chrome deletes is the windowsill trim, that
chrome trim that goes around your windows because wrap doesn’t, you know, you’ve got two pieces of rubber on each side of it that breathe.
So even if you get wrapped underneath it, it may push up, it may peel and will rarely last longer than a year.
And it’s and Josh Poulson: rarely last longer than a year.
Thank you, I appreciate that.
Yeah, we’re, this is a new
Colby Mclaughlin: you. I appreciate that. Yeah, we’re this is a new segment that we’re going to be going down. We’ve got 30 molds in process.
We have some in stock now, but it’s literally just it’s same as our other product. Clean adhesion promoter, peel the tape, the adhesive, the two
sided adhesive and stick it on. And, you know, even for hail damage, you know, you can’t PDR
hail damage our windowsill trim. You have to replace it. So this is a good option. Or if it’s just corroding, it’s a really good option to You
know, it’s a better solution. We look at trim illusion, you know, as a trim company, but we are a chrome delete solution for these people that are doing chrome
Unique Selling Proposition & Memorable Moments
Jesse Stoddard: Um, since we’re on this, we’ve gotten off of the big macro stuff with SEMA and we’re focused on your business.
Let’s stay there for a minute. Tell, tell us more, like what makes your business unique in the industry and what
sets you apart from other companies? Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah, great question.
So, um, you know, our, our, our go to market strategy is very aggressive.
I mean, usually if we, if, if Najee, Najee handles all manufacturing, if he gets the idea of it, we’re probably going to have it in stock in 90 to 120 days, um, from
thought process to getting that done. So that’s important to us because we know guys like Josh,
they’re working on new vehicles. So if there’s a refresh on a vehicle, we need to get product so that he is able to do those chrome deletes, um.
I think what’s very unique about us is, is we have a long life cycle because both from new vehicles to also dressing up pre owned lots on
dealership lots to also being able to sell online for people who may not be able to afford that new vehicle, but they want to re up their vehicle.
So we’re able to have a long life cycle to our products. And, uh, for restylers, it’s, it’s really good margin because they’re
able to replace their labor. So again, we’re a solution where these guys are sitting there, you know, spending five, six hours wrapping, they can take our products
and be done in 15 to 20 minutes. So we’re able to help them increase that vehicle turn, reduce warranties.
Um, and so we, we’re, we’re very unique like that and that we also touch all, Jesse Stoddard: In that world, is there any particular memorable
project or special project or anything interesting that comes to mind or, you know, like a case study you’ve got or, or a restyle or you helped with
a product with something like that? Colby Mclaughlin: I mean, the reaction at SEMA this year, you know,
I’m again, I’m an excited person. You know, I love what I do. I’m a happy guy. I love the people around me and our team.
Um, I’m always excited about our products, right? But it’s it’s the day to day, right? Like.
We sell our products and it’s at SEMA, seeing people come up. So this year we had a Tahoe door, um, so that we could show the products actually
on the vehicle and the solutions we have. And we’re in the middle of all wrapping, uh, exhibitors, right?
And then on our sign, it says, don’t wrap it, snap it. So we’re kind of the purple cow in the area in the middle of all the
wrapping companies and ours, our door handles was Najee’s first. Patent and his brainchild, which the traditional door handles, you
think of the chrome door handles, you stick it on and it’s got a hard edge and you can see paint and all that.
And you can tell it’s an overlay for ours wrap around. And so it’s always a, it’s always cool to have people come into the booth and have
them snap it on because the look on their face like, Oh my God, uh, this is amazing.
This is going to save me so much time and same thing with the window. So trim. So cool. Really, that that’s the exciting part for me is stressful.
It is leading up to it and the investment of exhibiting at SEMA seeing people’s reaction to our products.
It’s just a good reminder that what we do is cool. We have great products and just, you know, kind of reignites that
Jesse Stoddard: When I interviewed Josh, uh, when we got started, he had a lot of bizarre and funny stories.
And so I, now I get this idea, I guess you probably do too. Everybody does. So what’s the funniest or most bizarre or strangest thing that’s
happened to you in your business? Colby Mclaughlin: Oh, man. Um, I don’t know.
Well, I’ll tell this one. I’m not worried about it. But, um, when we were doing this goes back to my prototyping
days, I got two stories for you. When I go going back to my prototyping days, um, we were
doing the Lincoln MKZ concept. So this was a full glass roof, beautiful ruby red car, right?
And we are in the 11th hour. I mean, this car is, everything is completely custom on this car.
One off everything. Josh Poulson: a ruby Colby Mclaughlin: It was yeah, it was a ruby red one.
Uh, this car was gorgeous. So we were getting, we had to send it off, um, for the photo shoot the next day.
This was leading right up into the Detroit auto show and it was going to a photo shoot the next day and it’s 2 30 in the morning.
Again, we would work 100. 110 hour weeks. I had a toothbrush there. I had a sleeping bag there.
Um, we worked a lot of hours and uh, it’s 2 30 in the morning.
The car is done. There’s probably 30 of us right here. Um, standing next to it. There’s a camera up.
Um, That Ford used to take a picture every 5 minutes so that they would have kind of like a progress,
Jesse Stoddard: Time lapse, a time lapse type of Colby Mclaughlin: And, uh, yeah, exactly. So we go to start it up and I don’t remember if it was how it was engineered
or how it was assembled, but basically the gas pedal and the brake pedal.
Beautiful polished aluminum. I mean, they were, it was, you know, it’s all meant for looks. So we start, they start up the car and when you push on the brake pedal, I don’t
know how somebody didn’t catch this. It also pushed the gas pedal. So we’re all standing around it.
He puts, he puts his foot on the brake to start it up. Puts it in reverse and it starts, the wheels start spinning because it’s
breaking and gassing at the same time. And so the car is sitting right here, uh, behind it was, to the left was a
booth with a SEMA build that was done, we were wet sanding and buffing it. Behind it to the right was a garage door and in the middle was a pole.
And it starts burning out and runs back and hits this pole. The whole back, I mean, this thing’s a tank.
It’s, it’s complete fiberglass, the whole back end gets just completely demolished and it’s going to. It’s getting picked up in five hours to go Photoshop and, uh, yeah, so
they just didn’t photograph the rear end and then when it came back, it was a mad mess to try to get this thing blended, well, fixed and blended
and make sure everything was right. But if it went two feet to the left, it would have taken out a SEMA build. If it went two feet to the right, it would have kept going through that garage door
and who knows what it would have hit. Ha, Josh Poulson: your frosted tips at that point probably helped
project it in the right direction? I guess, I mean, I feel, I really feel like being the boy band that you are.
You know, you were able to diplomatically make sure it didn’t hit anything. Colby Mclaughlin: Good one, good one, good
Josh Poulson: What’s your other story? I want to hear your other story. So
Colby Mclaughlin: what they call wheelskins. So they’re wheel cladding. That, uh, gets snapped onto an alloy wheel.
So the alloy wheel now looks like a premium chrome wheel. So I’m knocking it on. I’ve only been in Alabama for maybe three weeks at this point in time and I’m on
the ground popping it on and I see this big shadow just like next to me and I
look back and it’s this big, big southern boy and he’s in uh, overalls, no shirt on underneath and he’s kind of rubbing it and he’s looking at me and uh, he says,
are those real chrome or fake chrome? I said, they’re triple chrome. I said they’re triple chrome plated ABS.
He’s like, what do you mean? I said they’re fake chrome He’s like, ha you tickle my belly boy, and I
was like, I gotta get out of here Josh Poulson: being from Michigan, you know, and then you go down to
Alabama, you know, yeah, that’s uh, you know, a Detroit boy all of a sudden found himself in Alabama.
Uh, Colby Mclaughlin: grown man Tell me I tickle his belly and that’s
about the only time I wanted to Josh Poulson: well, I’ll tell you, you know, Colby has been one of those
manufacturers, Jesse, that, you know, he really understands his customer because
he actually still goes out to some local car dealers and, and works it. So he understands that part of the business, you know, a lot of manufacturers
say, Oh, well, I get restyling. I know what you guys are up against. No, they don’t. They really don’t and unless they work it.
So Colby’s one of those true manufacturers that does understand and he knows how to help.
So their company does as much help for restylers and shops and installers than,
than almost any other manufacturer I know. So kudos to them and their great products and where they’re going and,
and then also his leadership on Pro. Um, so it’s real good, good excitement for the next couple
Business Strategies & Partnerships
Jesse Stoddard: you know, speaking of which, how do you approach marketing for your business? You know, what strategies have been most successful?
We heard that you did a TV commercial or you did a commercial and you’re also doing some direct, you know, networking and whatnot.
How do you guys approach marketing? Colby Mclaughlin: uh, yeah, I mean, it really, it’s, it’s
specific on each segment, right? We have three different sides of our business. We have the B2B, like when we’re dealing with Josh’s team, we’ve
got our direct dealer, which is our routes and specific routes where we don’t have wholesale customers. We’ll put routes, um, and then our e commerce.
So, you know, it, it B2B, we’re a solution to Chrome, delete econ, maybe DIY direct to dealer, maybe, Hey, we can either on the new side.
Give you some hard ads, right? The FTC is cracking down on these soft ads, whether it’s, uh, dealers marking
up lending or gap or, or nitrogen tires. So this gives the dealers the opportunity on the new side to
put an addendum with hard ads. Do you side maybe, hey, we can help you sell that vehicle or
there’s 500 equinoxes in your area. Let’s set some of them apart, um, or if there’s damage.
So really, you know, uh, we’ve got, uh, Dennis Lerdal on our team. He just joined recently. He’s, he’s been phenomenal.
He’s. Uh, him and I have been working a lot lately as I’m kind of handing off that that CMO role to him, um, where he can focus on that.
So it’s, yeah, it just depends on which, which segment, uh, but brand building has been a big 1.
I’d say when I came on with Trim Illusion, we were kind of called the private label manufacturer, you know, it was a product in a box.
We’ll put your label on it. That’s fine. Um, but we knew that what we had was something special and we wanted, we wanted a name
Jesse Stoddard: What about strategic partnerships? You know, have you had any of those that significantly benefited your business?
Um, whether that’s on, you know, other manufacturers, restylers or, or, or anything like that?
Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah, we’ve, um, you know, we’ve gone down some different paths. I wouldn’t say any of them were, were tremendously successful.
I would say our best strategic partners are just networking, um, you know, within SEMA when I started with Pro, when I first met Josh and got on with Pro, I would
say it wasn’t completely selfless, right? I was like, Oh, perfect. I can go have a beer with Josh.
He wouldn’t pick up my phone calls before that. And so we could, we, you know, just allowed networking, networking.
And all of that leading up into that. Um, and then after that, I just realized how, how amazing our industry is just
not cars aside, just the people there. You were a passion driven industry. You meet a lot of really cool people.
And really, it’s during that networking and. You know, having real conversations with people, things evolve where there’s
strategic partners that could show up. And so I think, uh, networking, I’ve learned a lot from these people
that have helped our business grow just from being in the same industry and facing the same challenges.
Josh Poulson: This guy, I’ll tell you what, Jesse, uh, he works it, he works it hard. I’ll tell you, the first time I met him was at a SEMA show.
I was like, okay, great. Nice to meet you. All right. Who’s this new guy? Whatever. And then I was like, yeah, you guys should come to our pro meeting and this, that.
So he comes to the pro meeting. He sits right next to me. Like there’s like 6, 000 chairs in the whole place.
And he sits like right next to me. And I’m like. Oh man, this guy, he’s like, he’s not gonna leave me alone unless I
buy something, so I made him buy me a beer and then I bought some stuff, so and then the relationship worked, so he knows how to work it.
Um, but if he ever, if you’re at an event and Colby sits right next to you, just know you will end up buying something.
Colby Mclaughlin: Very Josh Poulson: he was only like, at the time, how old were you, like 33, 34?
Yeah, 30, 32 and he had a full suit on and I’m like, Oh my
gosh, this guy is a baller. So, and you know, I, I barely had a t shirt.
I may not even had a shirt on. It was a seven 30 morning meeting at SEMA.
I mean the night before, who knows what would happen. And this guy comes up with a full suit ready to go.
And I was like, Oh, he’s serious. So. Colby Mclaughlin: Yep. I, I, those, I’m glad we, the best thing I think we ever did on Pro was turn that
into a lunch meeting and, uh, breakfast meetings, because that was always a rough, rough meeting in the morning. Josh Poulson: I think the biggest misconception
Handling Challenges & Interactions
Jesse Stoddard: Go talk a little bit about handling like challenges and interactions with customers. Like, how do you guys handle customer relations?
Especially like, especially disagreements or complaints. There seems to be like that. There’s a challenge in, in, in this, this line of work, right?
There can be challenging customers. Colby Mclaughlin: Oh yeah. Yeah.
We always do the right thing. Our team does. Um, if, if there’s something on our end.
Whether it’s a warranty product, you know, we’re, we’re going to stand by it, you know, um, and that really comes from being on the other side, right?
You want to be treated. You just think about when you have a buying experience, whether it’s with an e commerce company, a retail store.
You know, if you touch that company once and you have a bad experience, you’re never going back from that. So we will always do the right thing.
At least we try to, um, you know, we may have disagreements on what right is, but we stand behind our product and we just try to make sure that,
you know, we’re moving forward in the way that we would want to be treated. Um, you know, but yes, there’s challenges, especially in the in
the in the direct to consumer world. Um, you know, expectations are different from people.
Um, You know, B2B has its challenges cause you’ve got big customers and you have relations there and you want to make sure you’re moving forward in the
right area and not having conflicts. Um, but yeah, just doing the right thing is the number one thing that we
Jesse Stoddard: What are some common misperceptions people have about this, about auto restyling in general and the industry?
Colby Mclaughlin: Oh, uh, that I think the biggest misconception is not knowing
everything that can be done, right? I mean, even when it comes to putting leather in a car. You know, so many people don’t even know about that, right?
Um, they think they have to buy it factory or that aftermarket is lesser than OEM, you know, and in some instances, sure, that’s the case.
But there’s a lot of, a lot of manufacturers out there that are pushing the envelope that I would say are OEM or better, um, and at a more affordable rate.
So the biggest thing that we’re trying to do within pro and hence why we’ve put such a focus on social media.
Is is is consumer awareness, letting people know, getting people excited about they want to put a sound system in their car.
They want to put ppf to protect their paint for long term. Just letting them know that they can do those things.
Um, and what’s out there and give ideas is why we do what we do. Jesse Stoddard: How do you even manage work life balance?
You know, it’s so demanding. It sounds like you’re doing, you’re going a million miles an hour and you’re, you got a lot of stuff going on.
Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah, I have a supportive wife as Josh had mentioned earlier. That’s definitely one of them. Uh, it’s a challenge, you know, and, and, uh, I will say one of my
favorite things to do throughout the day is like, again, I don’t slow down. I back up to a nature preserve. I got a Australian shepherd puppy and a golden chow mix.
And three times a day, morning, lunch and then after dinner, we’ll go take some laps out in the woods.
Um, and outside of this morning, you know, they’re generally it’s relaxing.
It forces me to get out from in front of the computer off my phone, even just for 15 20 minutes.
Um, that’s that’s really where I get a lot of my balance that throughout the day. Jesse Stoddard: Uh,
Josh Poulson: It’s Jesse Stoddard: Well, uh, the other thing I wanted to know your thoughts on if if you could give advice and maybe some forward thinking a lot of
Advice & Forward-Thinking
the people listening to this are, you know, restylers and we, you know, maybe
some manufacturers are on here too. And, and there’s so many little shops, you know, I keep running into little
shops like, uh, um, I just talked to a, um, a young company just getting started and all they do is, is, um, you know, PPF, you know, they just got
started a couple of guys in the shop. Uh, and, uh, and vehicle wrap companies and all these.
So what advice would you give for somebody just starting in, in restyling? Maybe if they want to carry your product, for example.
Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah, I mean, if they want to carry our product, they can go to reach out to us. Trimillusion.
com is our consumer site. TIDistributors. com is our wholesale distributor site.
Um, but if, if you’re first. Restyling shops. And I mean, we say it to her blue in the face, but I mean, it’s because it’s
real is, is get involved with pro reach out to somebody like Josh, myself, Kevin, anybody on the select committee.
Um, there is a tremendous amount of experience that comes from that group that I still continually learn from a daily basis, how.
Again, how the industry’s evolved. Some things people are winning on that you may not, you may not be aware of, right?
There may be opportunities that we’re walking past on a daily basis. And the networking behind being with Pro is so incredible.
Um, and we’ve heard it time and time again when people, you know, find out about what pro is doing and they start talking to some of the select committee members
and they start learning how, you know, and they go back to their shop and like, Hey guys, we got to do this different. We got to do this differently.
We have to start selling this and it’s money to their bottom line. So, um, to me, that’s the biggest thing is, is if you’re not in a 20 group, um,
the networking within pro is phenomenal. Josh Poulson: But what about what? Okay. So that’s it. So if you’re on a business, yeah, join pro or come to SEMA, come to the
SEMA show, get involved, um, become a SEMA member, an individual member.
There’s a lot of that kind of stuff. But what if you’re, let’s say around 18, 19 years old, you’ve got frosted tips.
You really enjoy boy band music and you love vehicles. How can you, you know, You know, and you want to do something
in the automotive industry. Now, what do you say to those young people? Because this industry, you know, we’re getting older.
How, what would you say to those young people if they want to get involved? Or want to get a job in Jesse Stoddard: if they have frosted tips.
It’s Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah, Josh Poulson: frosted tips. Yeah, yeah. Colby Mclaughlin: let’s yeah, it’s probably going to make a
Josh Poulson: Well, those frosted tips. Oh yeah, they’re probably all going to work for trim illusions, but our trim illusion, but, but so, but what just general and in general guys
and girls out there, young kids that don’t know what they want to do. College is not an option because it’s sometimes in my opinion, overrated.
You’d get 300, 000 worth of college debt and now you don’t have a job, but if they want to, if they are a car enthusiast, where can they go?
What can they do? Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah. So SEMA has a jobs portal where people can post jobs.
But, you know, if you go, the nice thing about anything in the, in the technical field is, is, you know, there’s, again, you don’t need huge debt.
A lot of states, like the state of Michigan, where I’m from, I got 90 credits at, at Washtenaw for free.
Well, paid for by the state and the taxpayers, um, that I now pay taxes in Alabama for.
Uh, but, but, uh, there’s a lot of shops out there that are looking for work.
And the nice thing is, is if you get a good, uh, if you start out with a good shop, there’s a great chance of you being able to work your way up
through that shop very quickly, where you could be running that shop, right? Because like you said, a lot of our, our, you know, restylers call it.
You know, they’re, they’re, they’re not aging out yet, but it’s, it’s, you know, within the next five to 10 years.
So you very well could take that on and have a very successful business for yourself. Josh Poulson: Colby’s an example of that.
Cause I, you were installing wheel skins on a dealership slot and now look at
you, you’re president of trim illusion. And conquering the whole world, so. And, you know, the only, the only downside to Colby Jesse is what
he mentioned, being from Michigan. Um, because he’s a big Wolverine fan, which means he automatically
steals things like signs and stuff. But, he also, uh, you know, is a, even, he lives in Alabama.
Roots for the Wolverines and the Lions. So he hasn’t had a lot of success in life, uh, except, except in his business.
So Jesse Stoddard: Personal failure. Josh Poulson: you know, and football and things like that, there’s been a lot of failure. So for him to overcome that and be as successful as, you know, with his, with he
way out kicked his coverage with Lauren. And then, you know, he has this business that he’s doing so well in.
So Colby Mclaughlin: Well, Josh Poulson: many. Colby Mclaughlin: the Lions helped me out because for the longest time I didn’t even
watch football on Sundays because of that. And I could work so that it was an extra day.
Final Takeaways & Recommendations
Jesse Stoddard: What, what would be one thing if you could change one thing about the auto, the restyling industry? What, what would it be?
Josh Poulson: Don’t say me. Colby Mclaughlin: No, you’re one of the best parts about it. Um, I don’t know.
That’s a good question. Josh Poulson: you know what I, you know, can I, can I answer that Colby Mclaughlin: yeah, yeah, Josh Poulson: and see if Colby agrees, I think we have to do a better job of
the professionalism of the industry. Um, because there’s sometimes a couple.
You might, let’s say you’re a younger or smaller shop or things like that, we have to make sure that what we’re doing on vehicles, our installations and how
we’re treating dealers and everything like that really is a, uh, a small glimpse of what is happening nationally.
So if we’re not taking the time to treat our customers the right way, or we’re not good in the quality of our installations or the products
we use, that can negatively impact people from around the country.
Yeah, I agree with Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah, I agree with that.
Yeah, I agree with that. Because if you get somebody, you know, sometimes you get these fly by night companies, right, that don’t take the time to really take quality, they do something
for a dealer, you know, we’ve ran into this, you know, you have somebody even on the trim side who doesn’t pay attention, or they’re just not doing a quality,
then we go back and the guy’s like, yeah, I’m never doing that is the last time I did that I had I grills falling off.
And I’m like, I promise you won’t. This is not worth the risk for me. Right? So you kind of have these people set up.
I’d, I’d agree with, with Josh on that. But also what I feel like is a benefit.
To that is like our guys wear polos to the dealerships, right? And most hubcap guys are in hoodies, cut off shorts, Nike’s all stained up
and our guys present themselves well. And I think that that because the professionalism is so low over
here, it sets the bar where the guys can go in and really impress the managers being well spoken, being respectful, wearing, you know, dressing
Josh Poulson: respectful, wearing, you know, dressing nice. Are you saying Jimmy wears a, are
Colby Mclaughlin: Jimmy wears a polo sometimes. Josh Poulson: now? What? Colby Mclaughlin: the one. Well, the nice thing about Jimmy is he’s, as you know, the best
salesman I’ve ever met in my life. So the guy could wear, he could be wearing a wife beater into the dealers
and still outsell everybody else. So yeah. Some of us have to make up for it. Josh Poulson: Yeah, some of us have to wear polos just to
be able to get in the door. Jimmy’s already sold them by the time he’s in there, but no, I, I think, uh,
and that’s another benefit of pro, right? Is though, you know, we, we become like a watchdog for the professionalism.
We become like a, you know, if you are a professional company, you want to, you want to join with us because we’re like minded.
Some of these shops out there that don’t really care that they’re messing up the industry. Um, They’re not held accountable by anybody, but we at SEMA Pro try to have at
least a code of ethics and, you know, some kind of, uh, um, substantial recognition
that everything’s the same across the industry of some professionalism. So, you know, and that’s why he’s at heart at work, uh, leading
the organization right now. How long do you have left? A Colby Mclaughlin: Uh, what?
I just took over in July. Yeah, a year and a half. A little over that. Yeah, I think July. Yeah, yeah.
Josh Poulson: Great. Colby Mclaughlin: 2025. Oof. That seems like so far away. Did it feel like a long term for you?
Josh Poulson: you? No, it felt really, it felt really quick. Um, but now I’m like, man, I have to stay here till 2035 too?
I guess so. So, Colby Mclaughlin: That’s all right. You, you’ve done, you’ve put in your Josh Poulson: I’m just a consultant for these guys now.
I’m just, uh, you know, uh, just, they just prop me up almost like Bernie, Weekend at Bernie’s, and they just say whatever, and I’ll do it, I’m
Colby Mclaughlin: That’s, that’s mostly because of the Catskin and Lumar parties that we have to do that, Josh Poulson: Yeah, exactly.
Jesse Stoddard: Hey Colby, just a couple more and then we’ll wrap up. What’s the next big project or goal that you’re excited about for your business?
Colby Mclaughlin: Oh, um, yeah, getting better, honestly.
I mean, we’ve got. You know, we’ve got our product categories out that clearly I’m excited about, um, getting those to market, um, and a successful launch on those.
That’s a big one, but our guys every day, I mean, we’re, we’re not perfect, but we, we get better every single day.
And even looking back from 5 years ago, when I came on, and I’m not saying this was because of me, but just.
Our group in its entirety and the people that lead us, um, you know, we keep looking at things and saying, all right, that wasn’t
as good as it should have been. Let’s make an adjustment. And so we’re constantly evolving. Um, and I think that’s what has helped us grow is always being on the needle.
Um, so I’m excited. Just like, I always feel like tomorrow was always going to be a better day. Right.
And next year is always going to be a better year. Um, I’m, that’s how I look.
I’m a very optimistic person in Jesse Stoddard: If you could go back, like when you first started and you’re early on, and knowing what you now know, what’s one thing you’d do differently?
Colby Mclaughlin: Um, great question. I would have read more books. Um, you know, reading has got me, I, I, my first book that, not that I’ve ever
read, but my first business book, I didn’t start reading until I was, yeah, until I
Josh Poulson: was a pop up. Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah, exactly. Uh, my first management book, I hated reading growing up.
My grandma loved reading. She, you know, maybe it was the time, but novels, she tried to get
me to read Tale of Two Cities and it was, I had zero interest in it. And, uh, but Rod Bennett sent me a book.
Um, it hasn’t, Aged well now, but it was Rudy Giuliani’s book leadership.
Um, and it was talking about nine 11 and how he really looked at nine 11 and change things and stuff.
And in, in the front of it, you know, he wrote in order to be a good manager, you have to be a good leader first.
And for me in 25, 26 years old, those simple words meant everything to me.
I mean, I was so, I was taken back that my mentor at that time, somebody
I looked up in high regard would spend. That time to send me a book and, you know, one of the things I, you know,
I think of and it’s hard to keep up on reading now when you’re involved a lot of stuff and taking the time for personal development, but, you know, these kids
like Josh said, we’ll spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to college. Right? And then there was a study a long time ago.
Well, a long time ago, like 10 years ago, that it was like 57 percent of college students won’t pick up a book after they leave college, right?
So they just stop learning at that point in time. And when you can buy, you know, I used to buy all my books
were off of eBay used, right? 4 or 5. They cost them nothing to get an expert in that field to teach me
exactly what their expertise was. And I think going back sooner, I just, I would have started, I
would have started reading sooner. Jesse Stoddard: It’s funny. My last question was going to be the bonus tip of the episode here.
And I was going to say, you know, what’s one tip that you would give folks starting in the industry, maybe one tool or one book or a resource that made a difference.
And then here, you mentioned a book, would that be the one? Or is there a specific book that you would say this one is, is the big pick?
Colby Mclaughlin: yeah, great question. Books 100%. I mean, I think between books and networking or that again,
I’m, you know, I’m an extrovert. I get energized from other people. I enjoy that.
But books to me, extreme ownership was probably one of the most impactful, um, you know, talking about everything in your house, whether it’s the
janitor, you know, the toilets aren’t clean, or the trash isn’t taken out everything if it is under you.
Thank you. Uh, it, it all rolls off and it is your fault. And I think that that extreme ownership, taking the ownership of of of
everything that happens in the building, Jesse Stoddard: that was the U S Navy seal that wrote that, right?
Uh, Yeah, like Jocko, Jocko Willink or something.
Colby Mclaughlin: and and leaf. Josh Poulson: Yep. Colby Mclaughlin: He also has another book called the dichotomy of leadership. That was really good.
And it just talks about that line that you have to walk as a leader where you’re empathetic, but you hold people accountable and, and knowing that
there’s two sides that you could always go to an extreme on, but knowing that as a leader, you have to be, you have to be excitable, but not, you know.
overly over the top. And so that was a big one for me. Uh, there’s so many of them.
I can send a book list. I got, I have books everywhere in my house, but that was definitely one of the ones that I enjoyed the most.
Josh Poulson: I have a book list.
Colby Mclaughlin: Frosted tip of the week. That is, that is good. Josh Poulson: that’s the, and that, that will guarantee you a diplomatic position
Jesse Stoddard: stay frosty, stay frosty. Colby Mclaughlin: Awesome. Steve Frost, Jesse Stoddard: Colby, uh, that, that wraps it up.
But how could people get ahold of you if they’re interested in finding out more about you and your company and, and, uh, what’s a good way to reach out?
Colby Mclaughlin: Yeah. Um, I’m, you know, I’m on LinkedIn. Uh, that’s where I share a lot of the professional things, political things on LinkedIn.
Um, you can find us at trim illusion, uh, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, install videos, all of that, uh, to stay up to date on new product releases.
Um, but yeah, uh, come check us out. You know, uh, my, my phone’s always on.
Um. And, uh, you can shoot me an email at C dot McLaughlin, M C L A U
G H L I N at Trimillusion.com. I’m happy to do introductions. I love introducing people and just helping us continue growing
Jesse Stoddard: Thank you so much for being here today. Josh Poulson: Well thank you Thank you. Great guy. Colby Mclaughlin: Everything you guys are doing and having me on and just
bringing more awareness to the industry. Jesse Stoddard: Fantastic. Thanks. Josh Poulson: Alright diplomate. I’ll see you soon bro. Colby Mclaughlin: See you you guys.
Appreciate it.
Ride-in-Style: And there you have it. Another high octane episode of the ride and style podcast revved up and ready to go.
Your hosts, Jesse Stoddard and Josh Poulsen shifted your automotive game into overdrive.
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