Our Story
Where It Started:
Fairmount, IN 2002. I was a sophomore in high school and I had just passed my driving test and received my driver’s license. My parents decided to surprise me for Christmas that year with a little black Chevy S-10 pickup truck. It had a lot of miles on it, it was kind of dirty, it had been smoked in, and had some scratches. It wasn’t much, but I was proud of it. It wasn’t long until every free moment that I had, I was in my parent’s driveway cleaning and polishing on the truck. Already a car guy, you can imagine that I already had plans for the truck that went beyond stock. But I was a 16 year old kid with no money. That’s when my father came to me one day and said “Son, I think it’s time that you have a part time job so you can have a little gas, play, & saving money.” He was the Parts Department manager at a GM dealership and he actually had a position open up in his department that was perfect for me. I was eager to get to work and start making some money! From that point on, any break that I had from school (fall break, Thanksgiving break, Christmas break, spring break, etc.) I was working. I never went on spring break with my friends, but I didn’t care because I was making money. During the week, I was either at school or at work. My weekends were spent in my parents’ driveway customizing my truck and keeping it clean. It wasn’t long until some friends and classmates started to take notice at how clean my truck always was and how much cooler it was starting to look. They began to ask for advice on cleaning their cars. Soon, I started to get asked if I’d detail a car for someone else. I started taking on a few weekend detail jobs here and there. I did this all through high school and through my first few years of community college.
Where It Went Next:
After I finally realized that college wasn’t for me, I started working at the dealership full time. At about that time, someone had quit their job in the car clean-up shop at the dealership and the managers knew I was perfect for the job. My dad was running out of things for me to do in his department, so it was the perfect time for me to switch departments. In the clean-up shop, their head detailer at the time saw my potential, so he took me under his wing and began to teach me everything he knew. I began to refine my skillset with every job that came through. It wasn’t long until the entire upper management began to take notice. I ended up being the guy that everyone went to for anything detailing related. I quickly became the only person in the clean-up shop who was allowed to touch the upper management’s high-end demo vehicles. After a few years went by, even the dealership’s customers got to know me as the detailing expert. They even began to walk back and find me to ask if I’d detail a vehicle for them on the side. So I began adding new clients to my weekend detailing clientele. As time went on, I started to realize that I had hit the top of the pay scale for my line of work at the dealership and I knew I wouldn’t make it any further financially if I didn’t move on. Around that time, I was hanging out at a friend’s house one evening and his father overheard me saying that I was beginning to think about other options. Turns out, he had a position open in his lawn care/landscape business based in Fairmount that would help me begin to move forward financially.
Where It Went, Continued…
So I quit my job at the dealership and for the next 6 years, I worked for him and his lawn care business. We did lawn care for a statewide chain of high end convenience stores. We traveled all over the state of Indiana working long, hard days, but I loved it and the pay was good. My boss had a 3 bay shop on his property where we did maintenance on the mowing equipment and where his son did some mechanic work on the side. They were kind enough to let me still detail cars on the weekends in their shop, making it possible for me to keep my detailing clientele. During the week, I was working 12 to 15 hour days and on the weekends I was detailing cars. I was staying focused on my work and quickly becoming financially independent. Then one day in the spring of 2014, God stopped me in my tracks and said, “She’s the one.” So I stopped for a second to look up. What I saw was the definition of the perfect woman. She had a beautiful little girl and I quickly fell in love with both of them. As she and I began to date, I quickly realized that my life was about to change drastically. Over time, my weekends became less about detailing cars and more about traveling to Kokomo to spend time with the two loves of my life.
The Next Phase…
Fast forward 2 and a half years. We are married, living together in Kokomo, and we are loving our little life together. My wife had a good job in healthcare and her daughter had her whole family and all of her friends here in Kokomo. So I knew that moving them to Fairmount, where I was from, would not have worked. So moving to Kokomo was my only option, and I was ok with that. I still worked for my boss in the lawn care business for a few years. But the much longer drive to work and even earlier mornings started to take their toll on me and I knew I couldn’t sustain those hours with a family. So we finally decided that I would quit my job and start detailing cars full time from our home in Kokomo. So that’s exactly what I did. At about that time, we were actually in the process of finishing a new home build and selling our old house. At our new house, I had a heated garage with a floor drain that worked perfectly for auto detailing. Shortly after moving into our new home, we discovered that my wife was pregnant and we had a baby on the way!
Where We Are Now:
We now have a beautiful baby girl and with our oldest daughter getting increasingly busier with dance, cheer, choir, etc. My wife and I decided that since she had a good paying job and I was already working from home, that I would just become a stay at home dad for a few years to take care of the baby and logistics for our oldest. Thus, for the last few years, I’ve been a stay at home dad, detailing cars when I can. I’ve been blessed to have a clientele that is patient with the limited availability of my detailing schedule. During this period, I took the time to do some training and get fully certified in paint correction and ceramic coatings. As time goes on and our youngest daughter gets closer to school, my schedule will begin to free up and allow for more detailing time. As that process begins to unfold, Brass Tack Designs will go through a series of growth changes, pricing changes, and overall business structure changes. Thanks for being patient as we continue to expand and provide Kokomo IN with the absolute BEST auto detailing expertise.