How Curtis Gardner Grew 400k+ Instagram Followers as a Full-Time Mechanic

0:00I genuinely just tried something new one day and boom, it did 5 million views.

0:04Gary Lipovetsky: What made you believe people would actually watch an automotive technician on Instagram? It's a far stretch. I just went out on a limb, I had to toot my own horn, but I was a pretty good technician for 16 years. And so I felt like I could share this with so many more people than my immediate vicinity. I left a job that I was at for nine years because they wouldn't let me post content in the shop. I was one of the driving factors. What do people completely misunderstand about consistency with content creation? That it's easy. It's not easy. It's not easy.

0:33Gary Lipovetsky: What if I told you that one of the fastest growing creators on Instagram wasn't a celebrity, wasn't a fitness coach, wasn't teaching business, and wasn't even trying to become an influencer? You'd probably never guess who it was. Today's guest is a full-time automotive technician. Just a few months ago, Curtis had around 15 ,000 followers. Today, he's approaching half a million. But what interests me most isn't the growth. It's what the growth represents because Curtis isn't just proving that technicians can build audiences. He's proving that every profession has the opportunity to become its own media company.

1:06Gary Lipovetsky: Let that sink in. Dentists, lawyers, electricians, plumbers, accountants, auto mechanics. Every expert now has access to something that never existed before. Free distribution on social media at scale. Today we're going to unpack exactly how he found his voice. what changed, what surprised him most, and what every professional can learn from his journey. Curtis, welcome. Thank you so much, Gary. It is such a pleasure. It is so good to see you, and I'm happy that you're in Miami again. You've been traveling here quite a bit over the last little while. Yeah, it's been a nice, Miami's a nice place.

1:41Gary Lipovetsky: How do you find it as compared to Houston, where you're from? It's a little hectic. It's a lot going on between here and the airport, but it's not too bad. It's kind of similar. I mean, except for the nice beaches. We definitely don't have it in houston do you have this crazy extreme heat like we have down here yeah i got out of the airplane and fell right at home nice 100 humidity almost 100 degrees out and so it was nice so you and i we share a passion in in cars so you're an automotive technician you're a mechanic which i believe is the classic term of you know to what you do it do make do automotive technicians are they okay with that term do they find it derogatory or is it like what's the situation there it depends on who you ask i think i think that when you speak about technician it's more of a high level master level technician fully certified it feels a little bit more professional but i think if you transfer over to the european side of things that's kind of where mechanic maybe has a little bit more notoriety because you're like it's a car mechanic and personally i think just kind of as i've gone about the years in my my career i don't feel so bad about being called a mechanic.

2:44I understand. I think I feel a little bit more, uh, feels a little bit more old fashioned.

2:49Gary Lipovetsky: I never thought of it as a derogatory term. Like I'm obviously not a mechanic, nor am I mechanically inclined, which you proved, uh, over the last couple of hours of us hanging out. But no, I never, I never thought of it as derogatory. I always had a lot of respect and I continue to have a lot of respect for, for technicians and mechanics, but, uh, let's jump into things. So you were not trying to become an influencer when you and I first met, you were not trying to become an influencer. So why did you even start posting? What was the genesis of this? So the dealership started having us do video inspections on cars, which I told you a little about earlier, introduced myself, talk about what the customer is there with their car, give them a rundown, multi-point inspection of their vehicle, but do it all on video.

3:26You're talking to the camera, but you're behind the camera. Did that for a couple of years and I kind of found a little warm spot.

3:33Gary Lipovetsky: Sorry, behind the camera, meaning you weren't filming. So I'm holding the phone. So I'm not in front of you. I'm filming the car. You're not seeing me. You're hearing me. yeah yeah and so i did that for a couple years and i was like man i'm kind of good at this like uh you know i helped my company set up these these video inspections and and so one day i decided i have more to offer than just here at this one place and so i decided to then take that to social media i was like well i'm gonna start posting here and it just made me feel so much more comfortable having done it to customers which is more of a personal thing sometimes i feel like than social media so it just felt natural i felt like i wanted to help other people i wanted to help other technicians do what I've done and feel more comfortable speaking behind the camera.

4:11And that's kind of where it started for me.

4:12Gary Lipovetsky: Yeah. And that's amazing. So it's interesting because you're saying that you were given a mandate by the shop to do these video inspections. And I think I've had them too, like where my car is at the shop and, you know, I'll get a video and there'll be someone narrating it, explaining to me, this is what happened, or this is what we need to do. And it creates a lot of comfort. So that I guess was an industry shift where it sounds to me like it was more the shops were pursuing transparency in auto repairs. Because look, I mean, auto repairs historically have been kind of notorious for kind of lack of transparency and the customer not knowing if these repairs are necessary or if they're kind of a cash grab.

4:55Gary Lipovetsky: So I think that's actually a very smart thing. Is that something that was widely adopted where now shop owners are asking the technicians to like record these videos? It's definitely about trust and transparency. See, when I say hated, technicians and mechanics hate doing video inspections. Oh, really? Yeah. I mean, when they started, even now, there's so much pushback. Whether it's the incentivized to do them or maybe there's no compensation or it's time out of their day, there's a lot of technicians that don't see the value in it. They don't see that customer technician. They're like, well, that's somebody else's job.

5:34And I think just with the, you know, social media is a perfect example of how that connection or speaking and showing trust and transparency is changing the industry and changing things. And so I think I was just an early adopter. And right now it's still, there's so much pushback on it. And so I think that's where, for me, it's like it became easy because they're, you know, all these shops and dealerships are pushing these video inspections. And so I was like, well, shoot, I'm good at this. That's weirdly. So I, you know, help other people form scripts, be comfortable, you know, tune in the little things, whether it's talking behind the camera.

6:09I say talking behind, but you're, you know, you're just talking. Yeah. And it's just kind of stuff like that. And so it was really like a pain point that I was able to help because I weirdly just got so good at it naturally.

6:19Gary Lipovetsky: What made you believe people would actually watch an automotive technician on Instagram? It's a far stretch. Now it seems like it's obvious because you've gotten such massive scale. well I've seen a lot of repair content where there's a lot of you know people doing repairs or talking about the stuff they're doing but there was never really anyone that's like how do you get better at being a technician and I was like well why don't we try it and it's just kind of one of those things I just went out on a limb because I would you know not to toot my own horn but I was a pretty good technician and for the 16 years and so I thought like I could share this with so many more people than my immediate vicinity and what better way to do that and it It was just try it.

6:55I just tried it. Just started one day and kept with it.

6:59Gary Lipovetsky: So I had asked you before why you started posting, and I don't know if I understood. What was your intention in doing it? So you're gainfully employed. You're an automotive technician. You've got regular work. What was your goal with doing this? Was there a business goal to do it initially, or was this more of an interest thing? Was this more to help people? What was the reason? It's definitely to help people. I think there's a huge restriction or roadblock when it comes to technicians having a voice. And at first, I just wanted to help other technicians be successful in their careers, whether that was making more money, being more efficient, being more comfortable talking with these videos, whatever it was, I knew I had a set of skills that I could translate to other technicians, especially young technicians.

7:45We just don't have enough technicians coming into the industry. And so I thought there's a huge opportunity to help these young guys. You know, they want to be technicians. They love working on cars. And the reason I did it is just to help those people specifically and help people kind of advocate for themselves.

7:58Gary Lipovetsky: I think there's such a lesson to be learned here for all creators, you know, especially people who are starting out where everyone is, not everyone, but a lot of people are looking for a business motivation. They're looking for an angle from a business perspective. From what you're telling me, you were doing this solely out of creating impact. So you are already, you had a great job and everything was going great. You did this out of your need or your want to create impact. So that's, and it's interesting because most, like I'm saying, most people would go in with the intention of how does this become a business?

8:36Gary Lipovetsky: How does this become a monetization play? But you went into it simply because I want to create impact, which is great. It definitely crossed my mind. Like it was, it was like a thing that I tried and kind of even over the last almost two years at this point, it's still a trial and error. I'm trying to figure out how it fits into the market, if you will, how it can actually help technicians and not hurt them. So it's, it's a little bit of, you know, obviously would enjoy turning it into like a business at some point. But yeah, it just started out with, I want to help other people make an impact.

9:07Gary Lipovetsky: Yeah, no, it makes a lot of sense. Did anyone around you think that creating content was a ridiculous idea? Yeah, quite a few people. I mean, I mean, it's a lot of people that I worked with. I think there was, you know, why are you doing this? It doesn't make any sense. It's a waste of time. You look silly. Whatever the case was, I mean, my family was really the only supporters. I mean, like maybe one or two friends, but even family, meaning like your, your wife and my wife and her, her parents and my dad and stuff like that was the closest supporters. And, you know, I mean, sure. There's a little, you know, skepticism.

9:40Skepticism. Yeah. Yeah. But I think now it's the support charm there. They're seeing that once they start seeing the success and that it's working. And even before this blow up, even before that, they were just seeing the growth and the things I had to say and how meaningful they were. And then even reading through the comments section, you can see that people are thankful. They're learning and they're, you know, get through some of the negative stuff. But, yeah, there's, like, real positive impact, and that's when it really started to click. But the support from the people around me, like the physical people around me, there's a lot of skepticism there.

10:10Gary Lipovetsky: Yeah, yeah. How did you deal with that? You had to block it out. I mean, it gets to you some days, and, you know, especially from the people you thought were close to you. Yeah. But if it proves anything is I left a job that I was at for nine years because they wouldn't let me post content in the shop. Wow. I was one of the driving factors. They wouldn't let me grow outside of the way I wanted to, and I knew that this is what I wanted to do. And so if that tells you anything, I left a good job for something like this, And it's proving now, a couple months to a year later, that it was worth it.

10:44It's proving that it's worth it.

10:46Gary Lipovetsky: You and I have spent some time together now, and you are a very positive person. You're an uplifting person by your nature. And so your ability to tune out the naysayers in the beginning, I think, is one of your biggest assets. I predict it will also be one of your biggest assets moving forward because with continued scale, there will be continued criticism. and it seems to me like you're very well suited to to handle that i've dealt with it for a while being a successful technician even before social media you get a lot of heat and i've you know it gets to you even if you don't show it it does you know kind of brush it off your shoulder but it's i had a lot of experience so when i came on social media and there was a lot of naysayers if you will it was one of those things i was just like their opinions don't matter and it's what is my mission What am I working towards?

11:37And that was what was most important. And as long as my family supports me, I don't know. I think it's like, that's all I need. I don't need people to bring me down. I don't need those comment sections. Sometimes the comment sections make me laugh. It's just like.

11:51Gary Lipovetsky: I can't imagine what they, listen, when Valeria started, you know, almost 10 years ago, there was this whole, oh, you married an older man and you're a gold digger and you're this and you're that. And so there was a lot of negativity. Like it was jealousy. But with you, I can't imagine what would somebody criticize about you making content about, you know, fixing cars and about the industry as a whole and advocating for, you know, technicians. What is the criticism that you're seeing? I mean, the biggest thing was like being a brown noser, like that I was like sucking up to my management or, you know, trying to do it for what I honestly I've forgotten about.

12:30Like, I just I don't try to retain it. But the biggest thing was a brown noser. Like that was second to my management. But little did they know, my management didn't even want me doing it. Especially on their property. So it was like one of those things. It's like, I'm doing this for me. I'm doing this to help people. And it just, no one really knew about it. And I think the key thing here is that when you get online, people make personal attacks off of like the way you sound or the way you look. And I wasn't used to that. So that took a little adjusting to get to. but then it just followed it into that same box of like, it doesn't matter.

13:02I look and sound the way I look and I'm okay with that. Who cares what these people say?

13:07Gary Lipovetsky: You know, I agree with you. I think the criticisms are actually, they're an interesting signal, right? Because that's where you see what the kind of pain points of people are, right? So when you get these comments of, oh, from other technicians saying, oh, you're brown nosing and you're doing all of this, that's obviously a signal that tells you that technicians have this concern about being perceived in this way, whether it's they're self-reflecting and they don't want that opinion of themselves or they don't want other people thinking about it. But it's interesting to know that that's the case and to actually, I think you're in a very good position to actually correct that behavior to explain to technicians.

13:46Gary Lipovetsky: This isn't about being in competition or at odds with the shop owners. It's actually about collaborating with them to accelerate their career. So it's an interesting signal to get that negative feedback. I wouldn't have thought that that would be the feedback. I find it kind of comical. You mentioned that. And it's like technicians want higher pay. They want better benefits. They want to be, you know, there's always that car doctor comparison. You know, we're not fixing bodies, but cars are probably the next most important thing. Sure. They get us everywhere. And so technicians all want this thing, but then they want to act like they're down here.

14:18They want to insult. They want to, I mean, physical appearance is a personal preference for each individual. But you've got to show up a certain way if you want to live to these standards up here. I mean, you don't see too many doctors looking a certain way. You know, they're presentable. So I think it's not just the physical appearance, but the way people act. I mean, if you want to be represented and get paid and treated this way, like we have to bring that up somehow. And I think that just, it starts there.

14:46Gary Lipovetsky: I agree. what changed that turned 15 ,000 followers into 400 ,000 followers in under three months just tried new things I think it was just experimenting I think you've always as a creator you've always got to try and not necessarily the trendy things but just try new things things that are fun to you things that are fun to maybe your audience and don't be afraid to try it don't be afraid to go out of the realm of what you're comfortable with because I wouldn't be at that number if it wasn't for that. I mean, I genuinely just tried something new one day and boom, it did 5 million views. And I was like, well, it sounds like I need to keep doing that because it worked a little bit.

15:27And here I am today, just a little bit in.

15:30Gary Lipovetsky: So are you still experimenting with new formats even though you found this one format that every time you do it, you get millions of views on it and the resulting followers. Are you still experimenting or are you exclusively only doing that one form of that one format it's such a short sample size like a small sample size of only a few months so i think at first i'm was very pedal to the metal on like the same format but more recently within the last couple weeks i've started experimenting a little bit more and i think that's just to keep it fresh but also now integrating some of the things i was doing before i started doing this new format of reaction style is because that's honestly why i started so i don't want to lose why I started in something that just goes viral because that's not who I am.

16:15And so now it gives me a platform to one, do the viral stuff to try new stuff. And three, go back to what I was originally talking about was advocating for technicians.

16:23Gary Lipovetsky: Was there a moment where you realized or has that, has the moment come when you're, when you said to yourself, I've, I think I figured this out. I mean, you messaged me, uh, after that one reel did really well. And I had already done like three more since then. And you're like, do more of this. And I was like, I already have. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm on it. You just hadn't posted it. I didn't see the post. I saw the one and that caught my attention. So with that, were you consciously chasing virality or did virality just happen to have happened? I think at first I was chasing it a little bit because it does something weird in your brain and the way it makes you feel to get that type of attention.

17:01Gary Lipovetsky: Tell me about that. I'm actually interested to hear about that. Like, what does it feel like to go from, I mean, and I don't mean this in a negative way, but relative obscurity at 15 ,000 followers, where not a lot of people know who you are, right? Some people do, but not a lot, to having a video that has 100 million views that's converting into tens of thousands of new followers in real time, waking up in the morning, refreshing another 20 ,000 followers the next day, another 30 ,000 followers. and the video's like 10 million views, 50 million views, 80 million views, 90 million views. You do another video, 5 million views, 20 million views, 30 million views.

17:36Gary Lipovetsky: How does that feel? What is the psychology behind that experience? It's so hard to describe. And I think it's one of those things that's like a blessing and a curse. I think it's a blessing because this is what I set out to do is to kind of share my story and share my message and just be me. But also at the same time is you get that little bit of success. and I don't know how to describe the science behind it but you know it just makes you happy it makes you feel fulfilled it makes you feel like what you're doing is right and so I think naturally you want to chase that positive feeling and so I think it's it's easy to continue doing what feels good but sometimes you got to go to the stuff that's a little harder maybe you don't have that same virality or that same end product.

18:23And it's just so hard. It's so hard to balance it. Propel Fitness Water with Gatorade electrolytes, zero sugar and vitamins. Propel hydrates better than water to help you get the most out of your workout and get back to your best self. What propels you? Propel with Gatorade electrolytes. And like I said, it's a blessing and a curse. And I wish I had more of a technical example.

18:47Gary Lipovetsky: Your demeanor when you and I first met on that first call that you and I had before all of this happened and your demeanor now hasn't changed so how do you how do you stay humble after you know almost 90 days of being now seen by hundreds of millions of people um gaining as many followers as you have like how do you how do you stay humble how do you not I'm assuming you haven't changed another in your other relationships in your life. How does that happen? Because a lot of people, they kind of succumb to becoming a bit like jerks when you're not. Why? I, I, I, it's not, I've never been that way.

19:27Whether it's, I can't help people the way I want if I'm acting like a jerk. Right. And it goes back to why I started. It was to help other people. And I can't help other people if I'm like, oh yeah, I got 500 ,000 followers. Look at me. It's like, that'll never work. I think it gives me more firepower to help those people. And I know if I want to use that firepower to the fullest extent, it's about being humble and kind of angling what I've built in the right direction. And I just don't think there's any point. There's no point for me to be rude or to be egotistical or any of the things that come along with it.

20:04There's no point to that. I'm a friendly guy who just wants to help some people.

20:07Gary Lipovetsky: And, you know, when I see what you're building and I see the traction, you and I have talked about some of the people who have reached out to you, some of the organizations who have reached out to you and some of the work that you're starting to do now. I really predict that you being really the voice of the technician and it's a massive industry, right? There's so many organizations that work with technicians in one way or another. The automotive industry is just it's a juggernaut. I don't know. it's not really a question that I have I just I have this prediction that you are going to become this massive media entity as your personal brand with your hands and kind of you know with your hands in different areas of the industry like talking to kind of traditional automotive creators to traditional automotive journalists obviously on the technician side obviously on the shop topside associations.

21:09Gary Lipovetsky: I just see so many possibilities for you to simply keep going. So it's not really a question. It's just kind of a statement that I'm just thinking out loud. But just getting back to your growth, what's the biggest misconception people have about how your account grew? I don't know if I've received any feedback on the misconception of it. I don't think anyone's been like, oh, you bought followers or, oh, you must have done this follow for follow or whatever methods there used to be that worked i think i think a lot of the people who've followed me or been close to me since i first started they're like man curtis is putting in work he's staying consistent he's posting frequently he's interacting and i get a lot of feedback on just the interaction with the community and and staying consistent i don't think if there is i haven't really paid attention to any like oh he must have done this or must have done than that, it's just, he's putting in the time and the effort.

22:01Gary Lipovetsky: There haven't been any naysayers. There haven't been any, as you're saying, people accusing you of like buying followers or any of that. Yeah, it's not worth my time if they have. I try not to look at that kind of stuff. Do you read all the comments? It's hard. I try to. It's a lot of comments, yeah. And I know we've talked about trying to be active and responding, not just comments and messages, but it's challenging. And I try to respond to the positive ones or the ones that they're not just like, good job. Like the ones that people put thought into, I go out of my way to try to respond to those because they put thought into it and I want to put thought into it.

22:37And this is why we all started is to interact. Yeah.

22:39Gary Lipovetsky: From a tactical perspective, what do you believe makes someone stop scrolling on an Instagram reel about fixing cars? Well, I wish it were for a different reason, but it's usually something that has to do with your hook or the algorithm. You got to get someone's attention because we live in a world where there's, it's attention. That's the currency we live in, especially on social media. It's how can I get someone's attention in one to three seconds? And that's most challenging. I think it's something I've had to learn and something I've had to, you know, give and take, whether I'm using AI or just I have an idea.

23:09And it's just kind of something you got to try. And it goes back to just trying new things is I tried it. Some of the hooks that do the best are really negative. And I, I avoid that because it's not who I am. I don't want to be negative. Sure. But it's what works the best, unfortunately. And so sometimes you've got to take a negative expression or a negative situation, hook them with it, and then turn it, how can this be positive? And that's been the most challenging is taking a negative hook and turning it into a positive conversation.

23:37Gary Lipovetsky: Right, right. What's more important, knowing your craft or knowing how to tell a story? What am I working towards? That's a different thing. I think telling a story is very important on social media. That's what gets people's attention. Knowing your craft, from my experience, is very helpful and useful, but it's not as important when it comes to growing on social media. There's so many creators out there that are the most brilliant technicians or mechanics or whatever they're doing, and they're just posting their content, like, oh, I'm fixing this, I'm diagnosing this, and they don't necessarily see the growth and expansion because they're more, not in a bad way, but they're more focused on their craft.

24:17But when you kind of take the time to do a little of both and maybe dabble in some new things, that craft will blow up because you're just learning the platform.

24:27Gary Lipovetsky: So do you believe that you will become, do you believe that you are now a better technician? I mean, it hasn't been long enough, but do you believe that you're a better technician now, now that you've figured out how to storytell about your expertise? Well, I can share it with more people now. And not just online, but in person through customer exchange. I'm able to, whether it's doing a video inspection or talking face-to-face with somebody, I can, you know, they bring their car into the shop. I take them on a little journey, like why they're here. What am I doing? This is what I find. And try to make it like a short story of their car.

25:00Gary Lipovetsky: Have people come in wanting to meet you and talk to you into the shop? Or that hasn't happened yet? Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. But it'll be cool. I'll be happy to meet those people. Oh, it'll happen. It'll happen. What have you learned about human psychology that has absolutely nothing to do with cars? Personal interaction is invaluable. I mean, we talk about AI and social media, but there's nothing like seeing a smile on somebody's face. I mean, we've met online, but we met in person. And that in-person exchange is just so much more valuable because you can read more of that person. You can see their reaction, the smile on their face, or whatever the case is.

25:33All this technology, but at the end of the day, the personal connection is invaluable going forward.

25:38Gary Lipovetsky: Yeah, absolutely. what's something in your opinion, whether it's on your social media or not, but what's something that gets millions of views that shouldn't work in your opinion, but does? Negativity. I recently talked to my wife about somebody I saw online that was going very viral and his content was very negative in the same space that I'm in. And I understood why, like he's talking about valid things, but just came about a very negative way. And it's unfortunate because that's like, Like he's not my adversary, but I'm going in at a positive manner. He's going out a negative manner. And I think it's, I wish sometimes the algorithm had a little bit more favor for the positive things in life than the negative.

26:19But it's not just the algorithm. I think that's just human nature.

26:22Gary Lipovetsky: I agree. I agree. And I think that's more kind of a holistic problem kind of on a sociological level because, you know, we are attracted to, unfortunately, like train wrecks and car accidents. and even when you're driving on the highway and you see a massive amount of traffic and then once you finally understand what happened, it's literally like all the lanes are cleared. It's just people slowing down to take a look. And it's sad that that's just kind of the nature of humanity. But it is very difficult to build a personal brand that's not based on sensationalism. And that's why it's exceptional what you've done and it's exceptional what Valeria has done and many other creators that I know because building from sensationalism is, I think, a lot easier in the short term, but to build a long-term brand based on negativity and sensationalism, I don't think it has as much longevity.

27:11Gary Lipovetsky: And I think it's just hard. You imagine you're always talking about this kind of stuff and you're always trying to do anything you can just to get people to stop the scroll versus creating content that has actual real value. And that's where I think a lot of the struggle that creators have where they want to be intentional with how they craft their personal brand, but then it's like, but I have to create this certain type of format in order to get that attention. But for you with the, there's no way that works. Is that the phrase? It's not a chance. Not a chance. Sorry, not a chance that works.

27:43Gary Lipovetsky: So you're not a chance videos. I mean, they're positive and they get a massive amount, you know. But I also think that they get a massive amount of engagement. It's because of the way that you deliver it. Your delivery, your, you know, authentic delivery in your positive way, throwing your hat. it's great you know it's so you really are hitting that mark it's not an easy thing to find I think that it's a combination of having a certain personality for it and also doing a sufficient amount of experimentation to find it how has social has social media changed how your employer sees you yeah I think it's I mean I mentioned earlier that I left a position because of social media I then moved into a new position that would allow me to do some social media and that was good that's kind of where I got started and then I realized the impact it was having and the value it would bring to not only me, but the people around me, not even the owner, but just the technicians and the people around me.

28:38So I was like, well, I need to find a place that's all in on what I want to do and supports me. And so that's where I'm at now is a shop and an owner and a group and a team that's like, Curtis brings this to the table. It's part of his daily routine, and they support me, what I'm doing, especially my mission to help technicians. It's so much easier to have a team that supports you in what you're doing because then you've got more positive reinforcement. You don't have that negativity or that, oh, I'm trying to hide me filming content here. It's just so much easier with a positive group.

29:08Gary Lipovetsky: What do you feel is the biggest opportunity that comes from creating content that has nothing to do with money? It has to go back to helping people. Yeah. It has to. There's no other, I mean, people make money off of content all the time. But do they have a passion about it when they get down the road? You kind of see who fizzles out and who doesn't because what is their passion or their mission from the get-go? And, I mean, money's great and all, but I want to enjoy what I'm doing. Absolutely. I want to enjoy helping people and enjoy fixing cars or whatever it is I'm doing, and I've kind of learned that recently is I need to make sure I'm happy or I become negative and the people around me become negative and that bleeds into my home life and that's just not what I want.

29:50Gary Lipovetsky: Speaking of your home life, how important has your wife been in this journey? she's been one of the the one of if not the main staple of of this operation if you will i mean she she'll never give herself the amount of credit she deserves but i mean just the support and belief in me i mean she's always like she's you know challenging me but in a positive way or or helping me you know whether it's taking care of things at home or helping with the you know doing the groundwork with the kiddos or even if i need a small pep talk i mean she might not have the confidence in herself but and i probably don't do a great enough job of telling her but i mean those things do help and even if it's not immediate i'll think about it and she's just been such a backbone to the support and helping me grow and giving advice and just being a sounding board for crazy ideas or or things like this i mean heck i wouldn't be here talking to you if it wasn't for her right right well she was the one who if i understand correctly she had been engaged in Valeria's content she was following Valeria and she said you know he's got this she's got this crazy husband who helps content creators so that's that's you know for like that's the power of social media where Valeria who creates content that has nothing to do with what you create had kind of made an impression on your wife and then so that's that's definitely the power of it but no it's really important it's really important for your partner and your spouse to to be on board with it and I can only imagine like hearing that as your wife it's like okay well you're you're you're a technician.

31:17Gary Lipovetsky: I understand that. Sorry. Now you want to do what now? This is what you want to do. Was it, was it foreign to her, what you were trying to do, or was she kind of already well versed enough on social media that she understood the real opportunity? She tried to do some blogging and vlogging for fashion in a, in a few years ago. I don't even, it's probably been five, six years now, but she was well versed in it. She was doing it back when Instagram was only photos. Right. And she had started it and kind of, you know, as she moved, um, into working full time, She kind of let it slide off because it's a lot to manage.

31:48And so she was really well-versed in what it takes, the dedication it takes, the amount of posting, the communication, and some of the things that come along with it. So at first when I started doing it, I think she was kind of like, I don't know, but then you start to see that it's working and you start to see it and she's like, you got this. You're doing a great job. You're killing it. You've come so far and you've only got more to go.

32:11Gary Lipovetsky: How do you manage your time? You literally have one of the fastest growing accounts on Instagram today. And you work full time and you're a dad and you're a husband. How is this possible? It's sacrifice. And I say it with a kind of like a light, like, I don't know if it's a heavy heart or a lighter tone. But the thing is, it's tough because, you know, I sacrifice sometimes in the wrong areas and I kind of have to learn as I go. and whether that's sacrificing time at home with the kids, with her, that's hard because they're only going to be that age. And her and I's relationship, you know, it's ebbs and flows and it's tough.

32:50And that's the most part that kind of weighs on me is the sacrifice from home. But at work too, it's taking the time to schedule in some of those things and building content creation into the time I have in the day. And I've always been a very efficient person, So it's just about finding the processes that flow smooth during my day to work in filming or here or sometimes just filming randomly. And, oh, I filmed for 30 minutes, but I'm taking this five minute clip. It's a lot of work. But at the end of the day, sometimes that's what you got to do.

33:19Gary Lipovetsky: What do people completely misunderstand about consistency with content creation? That it's easy. It's not easy. It's not easy. It looks like it's easy, right, from the outside. It's like, ah, what do you do? You're just ripping a bunch of videos all day long? It's not easy. It's hard. What's the hardest thing about it? Staying consistent and putting out content. What's the hardest thing about it? I mean, when you feel like not doing it, you feel whatever reason you might be mad, sad, upset, whatever that reason, those are going to be the hardest days when you wake up. Or there's someone in your family is going through a tough time and just it's so hard to take the initiative, just like hit play and get the energy that you want to bring to those videos.

34:00And sometimes you don't. and it's weird how many people realize that you have low energy or that you're going through a tough time. I went through a two-month stint at a dealership where I was at. And I'll use this as an example. I was just filming content. I'm like, whatever, whatever. And then once I left, maybe 100 people plus reached out and I'm like, so happy to see you leave. You looked so unhappy. And I was like, did I? But I didn't even feel it. I was just trying to give it my all to get out there. And people were like, you just were emitting just negativity. And I was like, well, that sucks.

34:30But here I am. And so I think the back to your original thing is, yeah, it's so hard to stay consistent because in the days where you don't want to do anything, you still got to do something.

34:39Gary Lipovetsky: Right. Have you always been so kind of connected with kind of your own state of mind, like connected with the way that you feel about things? Because it's one of the things that I think that creates introspection, like positive introspection is the creation of content is the is. depositing the content into kind of the platform as opposed to consuming content from the platform. But have you always been so introspective and kind of self-aware or has content creation accelerated that? It's helped. I don't know if this is related to content creation, but I've kind of adopted this way of thinking that's like everything happens for a reason.

35:23You know, something might not work out. Well, maybe it wasn't supposed to work out. it's just one of those things and I think I see it more it's it's more visible with content creation because there's more things happening there's more doors opening there's more doors closing there's more people to talk to less people to talk to and so I'm seeing it more on a daily basis and that's really helped me learn that like maybe that conversation wasn't supposed to happen today or maybe that deal wasn't supposed to happen or maybe that video you know I've even gone it down I was like I'll post a video and it won't post I'm like maybe I shouldn't post that video today and it's just kind of like i'll wait and maybe post it you know a couple hours later and i have no idea why but it's just like it didn't happen for a reason who knows why but i've just been more accepting of that and that's really opened my mind up to just kind of like i know where i'm going and how i get there is as long as i don't give up it's going to get there

36:11Gary Lipovetsky: somehow some way let's switch lanes a little bit switch gears a little bit why do creators stay in their own lane too much i mean it goes back to the psychology of what works is the psychology of virality feels good what works feels good and they would you know it's easy to do what's comfortable and so trying new things is hard talking to new people is hard trying new styles of content is hard because what if it doesn't work right it's rejection that's failure those are all things you learn on how to get better i mean that's probably the biggest thing for me is just if it's it's new it's different and people are afraid of that i noticed you started putting out content more interesting interestingly enough about like some of the fashion that you wear like Like I saw that in some of the jewelry and stuff.

36:53Gary Lipovetsky: And I actually, I saw that and I was actually pleasantly surprised by that because of the fact that you're already taking that creative risk so early on, it just shows that you're going to have longevity because I'm just a big believer that people are so multifaceted to only stick to one type of thing I think is just wrong. Like if you ever want to talk about your experience as a parent, you should be able to talk about your experience as a parent, even though you are like the voice of the technician and you have your, you know, your personal brand so well-defined. do you think that automotive creators such as yourself should collaborate with creators outside of that niche i think to an extent which it is still relative i think if i were to go collaborate we'll use your wife for example that might not go over so well i mean we both have big audiences but it would be tougher in my opinion i don't know i've never even explored this idea until right now but it's like finding a common ground i think is the biggest thing if we could find a common ground sure it would work fantastic i think finding that common ground may be harder than anything like uh for me with a doctor for example it would be easy because some people consider technicians car doctors so like in that circumstance well he's a doctor i'm a mechanic no it's not really the same but it could be um then you talk to like collaboration between technicians that's easy well i think when you start to go out of that niche it can be challenging to find a common ground in a video or content that works for both audiences well we were just we were just in my uh in my garage you and i and you came up on the spot with this concept where you started showing me around the engine of my own car and realized i don't know where anything is and so you automatically you know you turn on the camera you turn on the mics and we did a video of you pointing to things asking me what do you think this is so as much as i think that's an interest like i think that's interesting that was a great connection that you was very creative you came up with that on the spot i actually think doing something like that with like valeria and her car, I think would hit even more.

38:47Gary Lipovetsky: I think that would be the funniest thing. That is a common ground is the car. The common ground is the car, but the last, sorry to interrupt you. But to me, I think the funny part would be that you have other tech, obviously you have technicians for the most part watching your content. And I would think I might estimate is that when you do talk with your clients, like with the owners of the cars, especially if they're, I hate to sound sexist, but especially if they're women who don't necessarily have an interest in cars, when you're trying to explain to them what the problem was or which part and how they kind of gloss over is that would you say that that's like a common scenario that maybe technicians kind of laugh about behind closed doors with each other like there was this woman and she came and i tried to explain to her what an alternator is i'm just making up parts right i don't even know if that's a real that's that's like where the term blinker fluid comes into play is it's a very common i mean blinker fluid's not a real thing but it's what's it called blinker fluid blinker fluid i can see Yeah, it's not a real thing.

39:40Yeah, but it's one of those things that it's very common. So Propel Fitness Water with Gatorade electrolytes, zero sugar and vitamins. Propel hydrates better than water to help you get the most out of your workout and get back to your best self. What propels you? Propel with Gatorade electrolytes. You know, we might have just created something fantastic right here with this idea. But I think, yes, it can be challenging to collaborate with other creators. but if you can find a common ground like this, where both parties are, could see the value in it and how it could be funny or educational or whatever the case is, I think it works great.

40:15I think sometimes I'm more risk-avert, like I'm more open to like taking a chance. So like, I'll try something like, cool, this could work. But some, a lot of other people I think are like, oh, it's not really in my lane. I would just encourage other people to try it. If it doesn't work, don't do it again.

40:29Gary Lipovetsky: Right, right. I mean, what's the worst that can happen, right? It just doesn't, it doesn't take off. And that, but it's an ego thing, right? A lot of creators, especially ones who have had some success, well, they'll try something. And if they're used to having a certain amount of views per video, they're scared to put something else forward because they'll feel like it's a public failure. But you can't. You live and you learn. You live and you learn. You're going to get better. I agree because the thing is if you don't take those shots, then you'll never know. But I think that's why Meta came up with trial reels because that gives you kind of like a – it's interesting that they did that.

41:02Gary Lipovetsky: Really, they must have studied kind of the psychology of the creator to understand that creators don't want to take that risk. And so by giving people the option to do it as a trial reel, I think it's great because it's literally only going to the people who have never seen you before. So it kind of removes that risk of failure or of being perceived as failed in something. So I actually think that's a good solution that they came up with. But I'm one to, I'd rather just kind of throw caution to the wind and try it anyways, either way. What's one collaboration you haven't done yet that you know would explode?

41:33I haven't thought about this. who is your dream collaboration anybody i think i really want to get into like racing and formula one um that's the pinnacle of cars i mean whether you like formula one or not motor sports is at the top you know that's where a lot of people's love for cars comes from and i think working towards something not maybe not with formula one as a whole but something within the realm of formula one i think that's like a like a dream collaboration to to go to those events and and i see some of the creators that I follow or they're, they're out there or they're in the team paddocks and they're doing things with the team and meeting the drivers, meeting the mechanics, seeing the process and experiencing the race firsthand.

42:12I think that's something that would be at the top of my list.

42:15Gary Lipovetsky: So you're an F1 fan. Oh yeah. So I have someone to introduce you to my friend, Juha. He just started, um, he has a, like a car club here in Miami, like a private, a private club of which I'm a member. It's called box box. And, uh, he started an F1 account. And And so he comments with the F1 footage behind him. He's on a green screen and he's commenting about it. And it's incredible. He's getting real traction. And he's building real scale very quickly. So it's true. Actually, we recently were messaging back and forth over our love of Audis. Oh, did I introduce you to you already? You were messaging with who?

42:53Gary Lipovetsky: With him? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, on social media. He just reached out to you? Yeah, I think he saw me through one of our collaboration posts. And then I mentioned in one of my stories about something with Audis, like old alleys what would be like in an old car well he's so his dad yuha's dad maybe we'll uh we'll see if he's available this weekend and we'll get together with him before you go back yuha's dad used to be a race car driver and he drove those outies and so i don't know if i mentioned to you but yuha was looking to like see if he can acquire his dad's old racing car that's a collector owns right now so that's that's really interesting yeah but he's really into that he'd be a good guy for you to chat with.

43:29Gary Lipovetsky: Do you think that every professional eventually is going to become, or do you think that every professional eventually is going to need to become a creator in order to stay relevant and to advance their careers? I think to grow outside of what the immediate, you know, if they want to use technician, for example, if they just want to sit back there and fix cars and that's what they want to do for the rest of their life and they're okay with that, then I don't think it matters. But if people want to grow and expand past their day-to-day, in and out, whatever it is, you've got to get out there. People need to see you and learn about you.

44:03Gary Lipovetsky: If someone's the best plumber or accountant or dentist or electrician in town but nobody knows who they are, are they at a real disadvantage? Absolutely. I mean, exposure is everything these days. If someone can find you. I mean, it hasn't happened to me yet, but I've seen a lot of instances where creators are working in the automotive business and they're just, their content is not about, Hey, come, come work with me or come bring your car to me. They're just creating funny videos and they'll have customers. And even though they'll make hires off of social media where people will come in and be like, Hey, I want to bring my car to you.

44:35They'll drive 30 to 60 minutes and be like, I want to bring my car to you because of the social media. And, and, and hires too. I mean, people will be like, Oh, I saw you online. Can I work for you? And I think it's just, they don't even do with having, having to do with that immediate thing but they see you online and like that's a face i recognize and so you're like you just feel like you know that person you know social media is a personal life it's kind of

44:57Gary Lipovetsky: separate but absolutely absolutely if we sat here five years from today what do you hope uh would have changed because you picked up a camera man you're making these questions you told me they were challenging but man you're really cooking the no i want to know kind of what what does success mean to you five years from now because look you've taken a real tangent you work in a shop you you work as a traditional technician but what you're building has real meaning like this isn't it's not a little bit of scale that you have right what's going to happen five years from now like what do you see that where do you see this going i mean i want to have a the voice of the technician is a direction the ability to advocate for technicians in a meaningful way that holds weight not just shooting comments or videos onto the thing but where people come to me and say hey Curtis how can we help technicians how can we change industry and maybe not just technicians but the automotive industry how can we see it differently can I whether that's creating automotive stories for customers and people who love to drive cars or helping advocate for technicians and how they want to make more money be more efficient get better benefits be happy spend more time at home use your time more wisely whatever it is I just want to be able to help people within the reach that I have not even doesn't even have to be automotive specific sure just go out and fulfill your dreams do what you want to do do what you love and if I can help other people do that maybe get a little freedom of my own I think is is also too I think I want to be able to spend my time where I want right right you really have a love for this like it just really comes through in your content but you really have a love for creating content is that is that the case like is it is it an accurate statement that you're enjoying this I think it would be more for the enjoyment of helping others and that is through content creation.

46:46I started within the dealership helping people and the way it made me feel was I was just like whoa I've never really kind of experienced this it made me feel like so positive and happy and able to share my my knowledge and wisdom with with others and especially younger technicians. I've always been like the guy to like take a technician I see that like has like a bright future and take him under my wing and offer some advice and help where I can. And then the ability to do that on such a larger scale has just been, it's been awesome. It's been, it's been fulfilling to like such a high extent.

47:19And so I love creating content, but I love creating content because it lets me help people in a way that's unmatched. I mean, I mean, that one video did a hundred million views and that's a hundred million people. That's, I don't know how the population of the United States, but that's a lot of people.

47:35Gary Lipovetsky: It's a lot of people. Are you able to, at this point, comment on some of the opportunities that have come across your, your kind of your, your, your desk, because I'm curious to understand that since you started doing this in the last two and a half months, since you started achieving scale like this, what has come across? Like, can you comment on anything that's come across your desk or you're just like, Whoa, like, I can't believe I have this opportunity now. Yeah. I mean, I would give a little story to the beginning of that. And I think the content creation introduced me to people that I would have never been in rooms with or had conversations with and they saw what I was doing, saw how I was speaking and the mission I had, and they believe in me and they still do.

48:15And I think these opportunities that are sort of surfacing now are the opportunities that were meant for me and they were given or presented to me because of the advocation of these other people. And I think those are the most valuable ones. I mean, there's something, I won't go into too much specific details, but there's something in the works that I'm extremely happy and excited about. And that's the opportunity to travel over the United States and hopefully the world at some point. But for now, the United States and go to events and meet, whether it's students in technical school or technicians in the field of, it can be dealerships, motorsports, whatever it is, and talk to them and encourage them to join the automotive industry and what is positive about it.

48:57And to do that and share it on a more, I guess, recognized official, if you will, level, it's extremely rewarding. And I can't wait to share it and start doing it.

49:10Gary Lipovetsky: Can you comment on the frequency of inbound opportunities? There's a ton of inbound opportunities, but they're not all ones that you want to take. No, no, of course. I think there's few ones that were meant for me and few ones that I pursue. And I think it's making sure that does it align with where I'm going? Because I'm sure I can do a little brand deal here and a little brand deal here and a little thing here. But what does that really work towards? And I'm starting to see some of those things, kind of my vision align a little more narrowly about what helps others around me and what helps me do what I'm trying to do.

49:48Gary Lipovetsky: Okay, I have a non-related question. What's your favorite car of all time? Favorite car of all time without any price limits? Sure. Well, let's come up with different categories. different categories so money's no object favorite three cars of all time okay first one is probably got to be a pagani zonda oh wow okay so you're going like super high end okay well that's why i said no limit because have you seen one in real life never seen one i've never seen i've never heard one in real life i've i've seen them in in videos but that never does it justice that's an amg engine though i have no idea it's an i haven't done enough research into it i'm I'm pretty sure it's an AMG engine, yeah.

50:28But it's beautiful. Video games turn me on to that. I play video games with that car. I'm like, that's it. I love that car. Okay. What are the other two cars? I really appreciate a Porsche 911, specifically around the birth year, like a 91. And I think it's just because it's my birth year. I don't have any other real. I think. That's a 9.9. No, that's a 9.64. 9.64, yeah. It doesn't have to be a certain type. I think just can be a base model. I think it's just, it feels right.

51:01Gary Lipovetsky: You just made me realize that the car that we drove here in is literally two years older than you. Yeah, a little bit, yeah. I mean, your car is beautiful. I think it's just something about the year and the resemblance that it holds. It's been around for as long as I have. I think something a little bit more price reasonable would be an Audi RS2. Okay. It's still expensive. What year? It's like a 97, 98, 96, somewhere in there. They've only made them for two, three years. But I don't know. It's something about the Audi five-cylinder just gets me. I'm like, oh. I remember that era. I remember it was like it felt uncommon to have a five-cylinder.

51:38Gary Lipovetsky: Like the four-cylinders were common. The six-cylinders were common. Well, Audi had been doing it in racing for a while. And they have some earlier models with the five-cylinder. But this is the first year they really kind of went on the performance side. It's the first RS model that they put out, which is, you know, racing sport, rally sport, whatever you want to call it. There's different variations for it. but they collaborated with Porsche on it. So it's technically an Audi Porsche five-cylinder engine. And so it's just something about meeting two of the brands that I love and putting them into one car.

52:04And who doesn't love like a station wagon? I hate to say it was a wagon. Right, right. I know the car you're talking about. It's stick shift. It's fast. I don't even know if it's fast. Heck, it could be slow, but it's fun.

52:14Gary Lipovetsky: What do you prefer? Like, do you prefer, do you have a preference for analog cars versus fully modern cars? I have not worked on enough analog cars. I think driving-wise, I would prefer an analog car. Going fast is cool and all, but you can only go so fast within the realms of the city or the street, or at least it's supposed to. I think there's just something more enjoyable about cruising around in an old, cool car. If price was no limit, what would be your daily driver, assuming it had to be a vintage car and it had to be fully analog, which if it's vintage, it'll be fully analog anyways. I think that RS2 is...

52:52That's the one, huh? It's just fun. It's practical. It's got enough space. It's not a super tiny sports car. It's, you know, I don't even know what gas mileage it gets, but it's a 570. It can be terrible. Yeah, it can't be that bad. It's just fun. It looks like a fun car to be around.

53:06Gary Lipovetsky: Awesome. Awesome. Okay, so our next step, our next step is you've come down. You and I have taken out my modern Porsche, my 2020, my 2020 cab with the PDK transmission. What did you think of that, by the way? It's fast. It's fun to drive. Yeah. It's got a turbo. It's quick. Yeah, it spools up pretty nicely, huh? Yeah. Yeah. And you had it in, you went, it's what I like, what's interesting is you went into a sport plus mode right away. Yeah. You put it in the most aggressive setting. And now we're going to, so I drove the 89, the analog car down here. You're now driving it to our next destination.

53:34Gary Lipovetsky: We're going to go for lunch. And then we got my 800 horsepower truck that we're going to take for a spin. You know, and it's, it's so much fun for me because to share the experience of these vehicles with somebody who appreciates it as much as you do. And I'm really enjoying the conversations that you and I are having around the cars. Propel Fitness Water with Gatorade electrolytes, zero sugar and vitamins. Propel hydrates better than water to help you get the most out of your workout and get back to your best self. What propels you? Propel with Gatorade electrolytes. You know, you showing me around the engine and explaining to me what, you know, what things are, which I'm going to get you to keep doing because it's truly interesting for me.

54:12Gary Lipovetsky: One last one thing I'll leave you with is that the 89, you and I just had some time with the hood open. and we were looking at the different components. You were explaining it to me. And you have a fairly good amount of access to that engine because it's in the rear of the car. You don't? No. In the 89? No, it's small. Well, the engine is a 3.2 liter. You mean the access to the engine? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you can see it, but working on it, it's a little bit tougher. Well, that's the thing with Porsche is that, well, but the 2020, we'll go back and we'll open the hood. There's no access to the engine at all.

54:46Gary Lipovetsky: like you can't even see any of the engine components and Porsche apparently does that because they don't want they don't want people working on their cars like they don't want the owners like doing anything so I've always found that kind of strange and also like they've made statements that their cars don't break down so there's no need for you to have access to the engine so we'll we'll take it from there Curtis thank you I really appreciate you coming on the show and I appreciate you traveling here all the way from from Houston and now let's go enjoy the rest of the day and let's go get behind the wheel of the car and let's go grab some lunch absolutely Thank you so much Gary.

55:15Thanks.