Summary

Gabriel Flores  0:00  

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the shades of entrepreneurship. This is your host, Mr. Gabriel Flores. This evening, I have a good friend of mine and the owner of outlaw details. Desmond boots. Welcome to the shades of entrepreneurship. What's going on my man.

Desmond Boots  0:15  

Thanks for having me.

Gabriel Flores  0:16  

Man, thank you so much for being here. First. Let's start out by introducing the world to my man Desmond boots. I would love to kind of just get a little background. Just just introduce the world. Who is Desmond boots.

Desmond Boots  0:28  

Yeah. So I'm 38 Turning 39 Next week.

Gabriel Flores  0:33  

Happy birthday.

Desmond Boots  0:34  

Hey, buddy. And so I grew up in Hood River, Oregon, went to high school there, graduated in 2000. And took off to Eugene, Oregon, spent a couple years at Lane Community College. And then a couple years at University of Oregon, graduated from their 2005 and moved to actually move back home with my mom for like, two months, because I had no clue what I wanted to do.

Gabriel Flores  1:06  

Nobody does. Right.

Desmond Boots  1:09  

You know, and, and I think that's the case, I really do believe that's the case. You know, I think it's tough. But I think more than anything, you know, in college, what it was was more getting to know about myself. Definitely meeting people. So that's what I took out of that nice. But so then I got on the good old Portland job finder.com. And I landed a job was with a company based out of Beaverton, and as a sales position. Again, had no clue what I wanted to do. But I needed to do something. So moved in with a friend and Lake Oswego, around that time, and in started that job. And to this day, actually still work as a sales rep in that same industry.

Gabriel Flores  2:01  

So how many years open?

Desmond Boots  2:03  

We're looking at almost 16 years now. Oh, wow. Yeah. So let's let's

Gabriel Flores  2:08  

talk about outlaw details first, tell me what what is it? What do you guys do? Yeah.

Desmond Boots  2:13  

So a lot of detailing is exactly kind of what it sounds like we detail. Vehicles, interior details, exterior details, you know, washing waxing, the whole works, but, but basically, where everything started was about two, two and a half, three years ago, 2018. Just finishing just finished coaching, softball, Coach softball, where I live now. And so as springtime softball just got over and needed, I felt like I just needed something else to do. Right to feel that time after my day job. And detailing cars had always been a passion of mine. Cars, in general has always been a passion of mine. So decided to just hit up a few of the friends close friends and family in the area to see if you know, they would like me to detail their vehicles. And that's where that's pretty much where it all started. And then from there, started doing things in the garage, working from the garage at home. I use the first like four vehicles that I detailed to, to basically I did it for free. And then I use that as pure marketing material. Right? So it was free monetarily. But they gave me five star reviews, pictures. And then those four first four vehicles is sort of what lifted the company off.

Gabriel Flores  3:46  

Interesting. Yeah. So So you essentially, kind of that was kind of like you're, you're, you're testing the water, right? Let's see if this business proposition is going to work.

Desmond Boots  3:56  

100% You know, I think I've been doing the sales gig for so long that I felt like the sales gig is a good thing to do. To support my family, right, and that's always going to be obviously number one. But I was missing something in life. It was something that I was missing that had to deal with. You know, we talked about these things that we're passionate about doing. And I truly believe that it's a very important path to go down for anybody. It might we were gonna figure it all out at a different times I think in life. I mean, I was what 3037 When I actually decide to move forward with it. But But yeah, that's that's when it started in, in in it was based off of that sort of, I just need to do something that make me happy.

Gabriel Flores  4:49  

Yeah. Did you did you stick with the initial idea of of car detailing or did you Is this your first kind of time and a small business and be an entrepreneur?

Desmond Boots  5:00  

You know, actually, so I got into the real estate game, okay, I got my real estate license. And I tinkered around for that for about six months and found that I was absolutely terrible. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, it just did not work. So

Gabriel Flores  5:16  

it's so let's talk about that a little bit. How do you feel being a realtor was different than being because you're, you're been doing sales for 16 years and very successful at that. How is that different?

Desmond Boots  5:28  

Sure. So stepping back, so my sales position is is nothing face to face. Right? So the job that I have is all email. It's, it's basically, you can do it remotely. So it's all email, phone calls, zero face to face now. And it's all it's all business to business, too. So that's, that's a huge change. Yeah, that's different. Yeah. And so when I got into real estate, I found that the process was quite a bit different than what I was used to. And it wasn't it, it wasn't in my lane. It wasn't, it wasn't necessarily what I could really even adapt to. I tried making changes along the way to try and fit down that process. And I found that I just couldn't.

Gabriel Flores  6:16  

So what kind of prompted, you know, outlaw auto detailer to become a business? Did you kind of already have an itch to become a small business owner? Other than you know, you said, you mentioned you, you have a passion for detailing cars and cars itself. But did you kind of have that itch to be an entrepreneur after that real estate gig?

Desmond Boots  6:35  

So here's the cool thing about that is that as difficult as it was for me to do real estate doing in starting the detailing business, I wouldn't say it was difficult. And I think that's a good indicator that you might be onto something with your passion. Yeah, that's a good point. And so yeah, it was completely different in and starting outlaw auto detailing, it didn't seem like work to me. I remember getting up, you know, I was doing it on the weekends to start and I remember getting up and, and being excited. I remember being excited the night before about the car that had to detail the next morning, and waking up and being excited to start doing it. And I would do it all day long. I didn't even realize really that the time was going by Wow.

Gabriel Flores  7:20  

Now did you originally start with the idea of detailing cars? Or did you also look at other ideas after real estate.

Desmond Boots  7:27  

Um, so going back to the coaching thing, I, at the time that I started the detailing business, I was assistant coach at the Sixers High School for softball. And then I ended up becoming I applied for and becoming the head coach at sister's High School. So that was a path that I wanted to go down. I had coached some younger teams before then, and I really wanted to go down the coaching path. And I really enjoyed it again, another passion of mine. Fortunately, you know, coaching at the lower levels like that, you know, the financial support isn't there, in that that was a huge play on and huge factor determining what I wanted to do next, and what and where I needed to go.

Gabriel Flores  8:18  

Makes sense now without law, or you know, out of detail. Is there like a point in time when you're like, you know what, I made the right decision, you know, you got those first four under your belt. Right? Was there a point when you're like, you know, what, this is, this is successful, this is going to be profitable.

Desmond Boots  8:36  

I think I think it was honestly two I think it was right towards the beginning. I think that I think that the the feedback that that I received after even the first few cars that I detailed I think that was when I was like this is it. Right? Because one it didn't feel like work to me. And then two people were happy with the work and and it was something that that I wanted to wake up and do so so I think that that was when I was like okay, this this lane right here is where I want to be where I need to be in. And this is what's going to provide happiness. Now. Here's the funny thing is that the main job that I do the main sales job that I still have to this day, the corporate job, it it allows me the possibility and it allows me to do the detailing gig. It's funded a lot of getting the detailing business off the ground. But in turn, the detailing gig allows me to be a better and happier person in general, which allows me to then do better at my main job and my sole job.

Gabriel Flores  9:48  

So you still work your full time position and own this auto body detailing we're doing it all man man. So was there ever a moment you know when you're starting this detailing shop? Have some doubt or self doubt and use an entrepreneur or doubt in the actual company.

Desmond Boots  10:06  

Absolutely. And this is, this is not something that I've really spoken about publicly, aside from, from talking with my wife. Alright, so I started this business with a young man. He was he was 20 years old when we started this company. And, and one of the actually, the reasons what, what actually sort of pushed me to kind of get the ball rolling with the business is that he, he had graduated high school, he had moved away to Eugene, he had come back to sisters, and he was my neighbor. And he had mentioned wanting to start a detailing business. And we had been talking about it, and I was like, you know, what, I'm gonna take this young man, 20 year old young man, under my wing, and, and I'm gonna start the business, I'm gonna, I'm gonna finance everything, I'm gonna get everything going on my end. And then if he shows up, and he wants to work, then I'm going to know that, that he that he's into this to that the idea that he kind of threw around is something that he's serious about. And then I'm going to take that and we're gonna, we're gonna go together on this journey. So it was about a year, just over a year ago, you're in three months, so November of 2019. I was vacationing in Las Vegas with a family. And I get a phone call that my business partner, this young man wasn't answering anybody's phone calls. And so I had texted him, hey, you know, you're probably having a good time somewhere. But if you could reach back to me or your parents, or, or anybody, that'd be great. Just let us know that you're alright. Well, turns out that he had driven to a top of a mountain, and he shot himself. And, you know, he was 21 years old at the time. So going back to your question of self doubt, I mean, not just business, self doubt. But I can tell you right now gave that it was a whole self doubt when you when you're mentoring somebody, you know, you're coaching somebody, not just in business, but there's a lot of things I was coaching him in life in general, I had to really, really face some some reality there. You know, and not to make this about, you know, me, but it did affect me, in the sense that, okay, one, do I want to keep going? And two, how can I ever keep going with anybody else? When what I thought was a great thing, obviously, might not have been the best thing for this person. Now. With suicide, we never fully know why. Right. And, and that's, that's what sort of allows me to I think the decision was to keep going on. But it was because I don't fully believe that it was anything necessarily to do with his life in the in the detailing business. But the question is always, always there. So yeah, definitely, I questioned myself. And it was too much later game after that happened, that I actually resigned from my coaching position as head coach at at the high school. And again, I haven't told anybody about this really, I haven't, haven't gone public except for, except for my wife. I really, really questioned, am I the guy to be mentoring younger, young adults. Right it until you're in that situation, and my wife is great. You know, she definitely, she definitely knows the right things to say. But it's one of those situations where it's like until you're in that situation, the feeling of have that on your shoulders. Can it happen again? Will it happen again? What am I doing? Am I doing something that is my ways doing something that is? Is not it's just not working? A lot of a lot of doubt there gave a lot of doubt.

Gabriel Flores  14:24  

Did it sounds like your wife was a big player that is that the reason or one of the core reasons that you're able to overcome this

Desmond Boots  14:32  

100% 100% Because she's the only one that actually have gone to about it. You know, and yet she she she has a level head and she unders I think she fully understands things. She sees it differently than me and probably truer than me. Without the feelings involved, so she can see it and she can say what she's used to me. And so yeah, definitely.

Gabriel Flores  14:57  

How has this moment changed? You as a entrepreneur, but more importantly, how has it changed your business?

Desmond Boots  15:07  

Well, that ultimately, the decision to just keep going, as an entrepreneur, you gotta go, you're gonna stop or you're gonna go, right, you can't go halfway. And my passion for for being an entrepreneur, my passion for running and owning this business is what ultimately, yeah, it's go and it's go and it's go time. And so what happened after that was I ended up hiring, I ended up paying his his younger brother is now my shop manager. So what I've done is I've stepped away from doing the actual detailing work. And I want this business to now, I've shifted and pivoted the business a little bit to where I'm, I'm running the show, but I'm training others. And I have three, three employees now one shop manager, who is his younger brother, like I said, and then two other employees that are doing all the work. And in that, that's, that's a better situation for me now, because it was a little bit difficult to get back in there and do the work myself and just, you know, try and get through the day doing it, all the things that we had done together. Yeah, so So that's kind of where we're at now.

Gabriel Flores  16:30  

You know, going through this process of starting this business, what is one thing you wish you would have known before you went down this rabbit hole of entrepreneurship?

Desmond Boots  16:43  

I think I think being prepared to

think being prepared to essentially, delegate tasks is a huge thing for someone starting out as a business owner, you want to do everything yourself. And you want you you. You can't fathom anybody doing your role. Right? So I wish and that's kind of to go along with what I just said, now, I'm hiring people. Now I have people doing more tasks. Now. I'm actually training people to do a lot of the stuff that I do now. I feel that I feel now that am I stepping away too far. So you kind of caught me still early on in this in this venture of this business? Yeah. And so now I'm like, am I going away too far? Am I stepping aside too much. But the fact of the matter is, is I think at some point, all business owners have to have to delegate and have to let other people in. And here's the thing is that no one's ever going to do as good of a job as you are be as passionate about your business as you. But it's it's trying to find that, that trying to bring that gap in a little bit to where it's not them doing nothing at all. But it's not them doing as much as you would, but trying to bring it in to where they're at least, everything's still able to run and able to run good.

Gabriel Flores  18:21  

Yeah, what did What is something you may have learned throughout this process that actually surprised you about being you know, an entrepreneur and small business owner?

Desmond Boots  18:32  

So that's something that surprised me. Um, I didn't think from the beginning, I didn't think that that the happiness level that you can receive in life could actually be that high. Right, like, I didn't, I didn't, I just thought that maybe you would kind of go through the motions, and it would be a cool thing to do. But I didn't really think that when you're doing it, and you're super passionate about it, that you can actually live a life that that has fulfillment in it. That's, that's probably the biggest thing that I've noticed. Right? Like, I don't, it's tough, but like I don't I'm at my shop seven days a week normally. It's not even like it's work. I just, I just enjoy being there. You know?

Gabriel Flores  19:28  

What, what advice would you give a younger Desmond boots?

Desmond Boots  19:32  

Oh, boy. This this, this question is interesting to me. And the reason why this question is interesting is because I feel like everything leading up to now has its had its purpose. And I'm not trying to dodge that question at all. But I honestly believe that like I feel like if I did one thing different, leading up to now? Am I here? Yeah, I feel like if, if, if I was a different person in my 20s do I find my wife into I moved to central Oregon? And do I even start the business? I thought about this far before you've asked this question. And I think a lot of it is, I think a lot of it is the younger Desmond boots. You know, though there were faults, I feel like, has created the current Desmond boots. And I don't know, and I don't want to sound like oh, he thinks he's a perfect guy. That's not what I'm trying to say. I'm just trying to say that like, I feel like things fall in line and in place, and a lot of luck comes in into play. And that's where that that's potentially what has me where I'm at now.

Gabriel Flores  20:57  

The sweet isn't as sweet without the bitter right.

Desmond Boots  20:59  

Oh, wait, right.

Gabriel Flores  21:01  

I'm telling you. Last question. Would you do it all again? What I do what all of this being an entrepreneurship doing everything that you've just done? Do you do it all again?

Desmond Boots  21:11  

Yeah, I do it I would do it again. I would do it again. And in fact I would you know if there's other passions that that I that I that come about as I age I'll probably will dive into something else. And do it

Gabriel Flores  21:24  

nice. Now tell the people at home how they can get a hold of outlaw detail how they can get their car clean because I know I need to get my car clean and get down to the system. So tell the people at home how they can get a hold of you. Yeah,

Desmond Boots  21:35  

if if you're in Central Oregon, you need a good car cleaning good detailing. You can reach us at Should we do that again there. Hold on a second. Let me put this on. You should have told me that before. Oh, you're good.

Gabriel Flores  21:51  

We can edit. You're gonna get edited

Desmond Boots  22:02  

I'm gonna find my exact Instagram

Gabriel Flores  22:06  

I'll ask the question do again making life easier?

Alright, good. All right, Desmond, tell the people at home. How can they get a hold of you? How can they get a hold of auto outlaw detail? So you can find

Desmond Boots  22:21  

us on Instagram at Outlaw auto detailing? Or you can find us on the World Wide Web. It's www dot outlaw detailing.com. And where are you located? Central Oregon in sisters hours of operations. Nine to five Monday through Friday. Nice.

Gabriel Flores  22:42  

Desmond, thank you so much for being on the shades of entrepreneurship from those listen at home. Thank you. Please enjoy the evening and good night.