Is This the Death of Traditional Car Washes? $4M Opportunity

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]This dude take on a business you thought about starting is making $4 million per month. This is Paulo. He has the dream of bringing FlipWash, a successful Brazilian car wash company, to America.

[00:00:10]>> With thousands of locations everywhere, because of our setup is simple, it's cheaper, it's easier. But Paulo is just starting his journey, and he's got a lot to learn. You're trying to do too much.

[00:00:22]Yeah. You're about to watch us create a plan to go from startup to multi-million dollar franchise. It won't be pretty, but it's the most cutthroat and real business advice you'll ever watch. You haven't proved it once yet. So, what that tells me is your biggest problem is you're spread too thin. This isn't going to be hard, but I want you to make one promise to me. Yeah. That you're not going to open any more locations. I would either shut down every other location or Let's talk about the business. So, like, in terms of revenue, employees, like, what does the business look like today?

[00:00:54]Okay. So, right now, just five locations open. So, >> Just five. Five is a significant number.

[00:01:00]It's something to be proud of. Yeah, yeah, because I'm I'm comparing a little bit with Brazil, because in Brazil right now we have 145 locations. So, the the revenue, the sales, and everything is huge compared to just those five locations here. We just started here. You know, for the locations we reached the break even, you know, because the process of getting to the market it's different from Brazil. In Brazil, everybody knows what we are doing. Everybody knows they can go to a shopping mall or office building and wash their car. Not here, you know?

[00:01:37]So, we had the projections for the business here in the US, but right now we are going to the like for this main location in Austin.

[00:01:46]We just turned two months there, and we are reaching our predictions. All right? So, like, for example, um I went for this location the the prediction was to have like 50,000 a month revenue in revenue, okay? 50,000 >> 50,000 a year, yeah.

[00:02:06]>> Yeah. No, no, a month. Oh, yeah, yeah, sorry. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. I just like I like to think about >> Yeah, exactly. You're right, of course.

[00:02:14]And 35% profit margin, you know? So, this is just a regular and average location. Of course, we have a small locations that make less money. When you calculate your profit margin, are you taking into account rent or no? Yes.

[00:02:28]Yes.

[00:02:28]>> That's That's That's after everything.

[00:02:29]>> Everything. And and unlike other car washes or more traditional American car washes, um you don't have much equipment costs, is that true? That's true. Yeah, so my setup is very cheap and faster.

[00:02:41]>> So, not much depreciation, which is my biggest issue with Exactly. car washes in the US, yeah. Like for example, I I don't have to buy a huge equipment.

[00:02:49]I don't need to build something structural, you know? I don't have to have the recycling water system. It's really expensive. I I don't need that.

[00:03:00]You know? So, everything's so simple.

[00:03:02]Yeah.

[00:03:03]>> Uh our system, since we created this in-house, we just look at in the market the parts and everything we can put together so that can works, you know?

[00:03:14]And we've been doing this for 12 years and work works great, you know? So, my upfront investments really low compared to American car washes, traditional. So, I guess if you had three active last year or and you got open the fourth at the end, like what was the total revenue from your car washes last year? Uh around 250,000.

[00:03:36]Total? Yeah, total. Yeah, 250,000.

[00:03:40]>> you think you think that the Austin one just just one can be 600,000 and that's because you're in a much better location.

[00:03:47]>> Exactly. Exactly. Like my animal locations, they are small locations inside office buildings. Yeah. They just work from Monday to Friday 9:00 to 5:00.

[00:03:57]Yep. You know, so it's very restricted flow of people, flow of cars.

[00:04:02]>> [snorts] >> But it's different from Austin. I'm in the largest uh, shopping mall, 5,000 cars per day in the parking garage, you know, 5,000 cars per day working 7 days a week, you know, so it's much different. Uh, I can sell really expensive services like, for example, ceramic coating. Uh, 1,500 just one service, you know?

[00:04:21]>> Yeah.

[00:04:22]So, walk me through what your team looks like today. Like you obviously there's you who uh, who who else um, Yeah.

[00:04:28]>> in the business? Okay, so since uh, I started Flipping Wash in the US, I have a partner.

[00:04:33]He joined the company. Uh, actually in the beginning he was just my consulting guy. He was providing me consulting of how to structure the company.

[00:04:43]And 2 years later he became a partner, you know, so right now he's located in in New Jersey.

[00:04:49]But he he took care of numbers, you know, numbers uh, projections, uh, spreadsheets, you know, this kind of thing, uh, agreements. And then I just uh, run the locations.

[00:05:01]So, right now in the US it's just the the two of us. I have the the third partner, the founder in Brazil.

[00:05:09]So, he's always here, of course, uh, with us, really close to us to see how the things going, bring uh, insights, you know, especially because he's from operations in Brazil, so there uh, his insights they are very powerful to us.

[00:05:25]But that's the the structure of the company. And the employees in the locations, like I have the managers in the locations and also the the technicians, you know, the guys who wash the car, who perform the services.

[00:05:37]That's the the the the structure of the company.

[00:05:41]But uh, since we are still growing and opening new locations, I need to hire more people. Like I need to hire one trainer, you know, a nationwide trainer.

[00:05:54]>> [snorts] >> Uh people for marketing, you know, people to help me to do the service because right now actually I'm doing everything by myself. I'm working for six people at the same time. Yeah. Yeah, well you don't have the revenue yet to be able to afford that.

[00:06:07]>> Exactly. I saw one of your last videos, the 83,000 magic number, you know? I still didn't get there, you know? So yeah, so far I have the >> that was just so people understand like I was like uh once you get to a like basically a million dollars a year, $83,000 a month, that's generally when you start getting enough escape velocity to be able to start hiring hiring people. Exactly. Um and being able to to afford to do that. So um so your your hope and belief is that your Austin location is what's going to do that. I I hope so or maybe we will contribute a lot for that. Maybe uh 50% you know of the 83,000, you know? Let's just say 40, 50,000.

[00:06:49]>> So when we're talking about the business today, how are you financing it? Where is the money coming from? Bootstrapping.

[00:06:54]So you're you're So basically um you know, you're you're self-funding.

[00:06:59]You don't have any outside money coming in. So sometimes we do, you know, like family.

[00:07:04]Oh, okay.

[00:07:05]>> I'm Is I'm just guessing I'm just guessing that you don't actually have the It's not producing enough money to really be self-sustainable yet cuz you couldn't afford like employees and this kind of stuff. Like if you have them you have to have them do the work. Like you're obviously you don't have much much if any money left over.

[00:07:21]>> Exactly, you're right. Yeah, at the moment we don't, you know? So like friends, family, they are just contributing to us. Oh, can I I I can buy 10% of this location? Okay, that's fine. So right now we we are working like that. We are still reaching the the break even of the the locations, you You especially for the Austin location.

[00:07:42]>> [snorts] >> Uh maybe in 2 months uh we'll have some revenue, you know, some some profit coming, you know, but so far uh we are just bootstrapping the locations. One other question I don't want to lose. Uh do you do do you do anything on a subscription model at all or is it always just on a per service basis?

[00:08:00]>> not yet because like for subscription, uh for automatic car wash, you pay like 10 15 bucks a month and then you can wash unlimited.

[00:08:09]For my system is a little bit complicated because uh I have one or two employees working per car, you know, so just 1 hour of employee it's the whole monthly subscription for an automatic car wash, you know, so my subscription needs to cost uh much more.

[00:08:26]I still don't know how much people are willing to pay for subscription, but it's a plan that we have. Have you um tried experimenting with it at all? I tried in my first location, the the the very first location in Miami. Uh I had some customers paying for subscription.

[00:08:43]It was in a in a very good place, you know, so people there they drive fancy cars and everything, so they are fine with the subscription prices, but right now in a shopping mall it's an open space. It I I think it's a little bit different, but yes, it makes part of the plans, you know, so that we can adopt the the subscription model because right now the the car wash customers they are used to do that, you know, all around.

[00:09:08]>> Yeah, I understand. Um what does success look like for you a year from now and 10 years from now?

[00:09:15]Actually, our goal is to become the largest car wash brand in the United States, you know, with thousands of locations everywhere because of our setup is simple, it's cheaper, it's easier, you know, so we can be almost everywhere. Yeah. So that that's the goal of the company, to be the largest brand in the country. So, to be recognized for customers, they can go to every other locations that we have and be and have the same treatment, the same services, you know? So, people they don't have to drive to a car wash anymore. I want to people understand like they can go anywhere. Oh, I'm just going shopping or having a lunch, going out to dinner and have my wash and my car washed where I am, you know?

[00:10:05]So, that's the vision. I think that would be the success because I believe the the American market it's the largest in everything in the world, you know?

[00:10:15]So, if in Brazil we have 140 locations, I believe here we can have like a thousand locations. Yeah. You know, with your model I I believe you absolutely could.

[00:10:24]Um So, what are the things that are going to keep you from achieving that? Right now, the the biggest challenge is the cultural uh behavior, you know? I I I'm trying to make people understand they can wash their car anywhere. I would argue that it's not cultural behavior. I think it's um marketing and education.

[00:10:47]Um like I think that having a having a conversation with you here, um you know, it makes per- I I can follow it. It makes perfect sense. I understand why you're differentiated. Um and, you know, I do think that in the US, um I actually did a short-form video about this. I think I published a couple of days ago, funny enough.

[00:11:08]Um where I over the summer hired a couple of kids to come and wash my car. I think I found them on Go- on Google Ads. Um and it was a mobile car wash and they traditional one, not not in the way that you do it.

[00:11:21]Um but, you know, when they come and they detail your car and whatnot, I mean, you end up you pay a premium for that, but you know, you're you're paying for that convenience and um um so, I I I don't think that I I think that there is a a market for it, but I think that um my my suspicion is that nobody know it knows you exist. Um, so it's more of a marketing and education problem than a cultural problem.

[00:11:46]Yeah, I I I understand. Yeah, education problem, of course. Um, yeah, people are not aware of you we we are in the market doing this. As as I told you, people who still they they park in front of the car wash and they ask me, "Hey, what is this? What What are you doing there?"

[00:12:00]You know, it's a education problem.

[00:12:02]Of course.

[00:12:03]Um, but even though like when tell them, you know, and because this parking garage right now in Austin, we have two office buildings and the shopping mall, you know. So, we I I have like 40% of the people they are there they are there every day. You know, they are seeing me every day. They are talking to me every day. And even though they don't bring their car. You know, because they are just uh focused when when they arrive in the morning, probably they are focused in the work. Oh, I I have to go to the office. I have a lot of stuff to do.

[00:12:36]They don't even remember, you know, I'm there.

[00:12:39]And then they probably they when they think to wash their car, they still drive to a car wash, you know.

[00:12:46]I I understand it's a mix, but of course make people aware of what we are doing, of my brain, of the concept of the the the company. The retail piece of it makes a lot of sense to me. Like I like where where we're filming, there's a big um you know, um retail center right next to us. And I could imagine that people that are going shopping for on the weekend or just shopping in general could say, "Hey, yeah, if I could just drop off my car and get my car washed while I was doing my shopping, that would be something that would be valuable." But I would have to know that that exist to be able to want to do it. Mhm, exactly. Exactly.

[00:13:21]So, right now, of course, any location we are, we have um marketing uh work being done. Like what what does that look like when you say you have marketing work? Uh, we we talk with the the other stores, you know, we try to make some kind of uh, cross marketing with other locations, with other uh, the retail around, you know, make some uh, promotional coupons for them.

[00:13:45]Uh, we spread uh, like A-frames or signage in the parking garage, you know, we try always to to show people um, the location, the the result that we are doing uh, right now, especially in Brazil because in Brazil we have a lot of time, we have a a big presence online, you know, we have campaigns running all around.

[00:14:06]>> social media marketing would pay for this. And you can and you can target around around particular areas. I mean like that that would be the playbook almost certainly that I would follow.

[00:14:15]>> Yeah, so we we do that this kind of thing here in the US. Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, also LinkedIn, you know, for the the property managers, for the parking companies, for for them to to let them know we we exist, you know. So we start receiving some like requests for this kind of from this kind of company, property managers, "Hey, I I saw your company. I want you to come to my building." You know, so we are also we starting to to have the location requests. Yes. Yeah. That's right. Like airport, you know, so the parking management company, they they are calling us, "Hey, I saw your company. I think it's very interesting to have you on my location because they are looking forward to raise the revenue." So I guess it goes back to the question is what's actually keeping you from growing? That's a good question. I I would say of course I I think the sometimes the the easiest response is money.

[00:15:11]If I have money, I would grow.

[00:15:13]>> if if if you had another $500,000 today, what would you do with it? I will build build my team, you know, hire people to help me, really good people, you know, everyone doing something that I I believe right now I'm needing because I can't handle everything at the same time. Like I have to be in the location, I have to talk with the manager, I have to train some people, and then I have to sign a lease agreement, you know, I'm doing everything at the same time. So, I would hire a really good team, you know, to start growing in a very organized way, you know, step by step. One location after another and make this profit Having money right now would help me to planning my my growth, you know, in a very sustainable way, especially hiring good people to to help me making this happen. Yeah. Seems to me that if I were in your shoes, making the Austin location really successful seems like your best bet. I mean, the thing that makes me a bit nervous, you said you just opened the second location already.

[00:16:14]>> I understand.

[00:16:15]>> Um the problem is that you don't have the system like if I gave you that $500,000 today, um then I would worry that you haven't perfected the system that works yet.

[00:16:29]And like the the key is like if if you build that Austin location to $600,000 a year and it really is um producing the $200,000 of profit that you believe you can on that $600,000 a year, then you will have people giving you as much money as you want to go out and open those locations.

[00:16:51]>> Mhm. Um so, the money if if you can prove that you can do that in Austin, the money is not the problem.

[00:16:58]Uh you know, I cuz because there are lots of people that will come and invest and say, "Hey, I can see that you did this in Austin. You can show you can prove it to me. You can show me all the economics. You can show me your playbook. You can show me how many people it takes.

[00:17:14]You [snorts] can show me what success looks like. And then um, like yes, I will invest how much does it cost you to open location? Okay, 100,000 location. I'll invest five more 500,000 locations doing the same model. That's how this business worked. That's how Chipotle worked. That's how, you know, every, you know, Yeah. franchise type location works. But the problem you have is you haven't really built you haven't proved it out in one location yet. Yeah, that's right. That's right. I I understand. I can see this, um, situation right now.

[00:17:44]But, um, we work also based on the Brazilian example, you know, because, um, Brazilian it's a very sex verb. What what what what what what is your goal?

[00:17:54]Here in the US? No, what what is your what is your stated company goal that you that you proudly told me?

[00:18:00]It's to be the largest. Largest in the United States?

[00:18:03]>> Yes, yes. Yeah, so but what I was telling you is in the United States, if you want to make this work, making it work in one place first, then you will then then it will then it will ultimately allow you to build what you say you want to build.

[00:18:15]>> Mhm. Yeah, it makes sense. Actually, I I made this question for me a lot of times, you know, um, because I think I have, um, a kind of anxiety because we start >> You're trying to do too much.

[00:18:29]Yeah.

[00:18:30]I I know >> Because because you're trying to run three locations in Miami that are not making you any money, um, and you're trying to open another location while trying to get your flagship location off the ground. Mhm.

[00:18:41]You're trying to do all of that, and that creates a lot of anxiety. Because that's Yeah.

[00:18:45]>> as as hard as as likely as impossible to do all of that. It does. But, um, actually, the system you you you spoke about the system. The system we have the system I think per location. The locations they are working, they are running, you know.

[00:19:02]I I understand we we want to grow fast, you know, maybe faster than it it's possible. I understand that.

[00:19:10]>> [snorts] >> But we have some kind of opportunities, like for example, um, companies or the mall or everything else, they asked us, "Hey, I I need your location here. I need another location here." Like for example, two of those locations in Miami, these small locations, we just set up them because the those companies requested us. Yeah.

[00:19:31]So we we we So so I understand what happened, but what I'm telling you is in order to grow fast, you need money.

[00:19:41]Mhm. The only way you're going to get money is proving that you have a model that works. Mhm. And [snorts] you know, of course people want demand because they have demand because they want you to pay them rent.

[00:19:55]It's like saying, "Yes, I I have If you want to set up a car wash in my office over here, I have demand. It's empty.

[00:20:01]You can You want to pay me $100 a month? Yes, please." But like that doesn't mean it's good for you.

[00:20:07]And and so I think that you're you're chasing the wrong Like growth is not number of locations. It's not It's, you know, revenue and profit ultimately is what you're chasing, right? Like I'd imagine like if you if you believed you could have one location that everybody would come and it would be the largest car wash in the United States, you'd go all in on that you'd go all in on that location. I'm Obviously, you have to be you have to be distributed to be successful in your business, but the only way you're going to achieve that is by proving that you can do it really well one time and then going up and opening one more location, proving you can do it really well again.

[00:20:49]And then maybe you say I want to open two at once. You do that really well, and then you say, "Okay, maybe I'm going to I'm going to open four." Mhm. Then you do that really well, maybe I'm going to go up and go open eight. But it all starts with proving it once. You haven't proved it once yet. Yeah, I know. Do you understand?

[00:21:04]>> Yeah. Yeah, we we start everything at the same time. Yes.

[00:21:07]>> yeah.

[00:21:07]>> so so it's not proven because and you're not going to be able to prove like to >> [snorts] >> to really get it off the ground like you just like you're here in Miami. I know partially because of me but to to to to visit your your team. You have to manage them. Like that you're not in Austin building out your flagship proof of concept. Like if you spent the next year just doing that getting it to $600,000 year at the $200,000 profit margin prove that, then you say, "Hey, I'm going to go do this again next year." And then once you do that, then you start scaling exponentially.

[00:21:43]>> Right. Yeah, so other thing I understood like for example in the United States things happens much faster than for example in Brazil, you know.

[00:21:54]So that was because our plan was to to open uh a few locations at the same time, you know. So the first thing we we thought about it was the the footprint of our brand, you know. Let's put our brand, you know, so people can can see us in different locations.

[00:22:13]So let let's show our brand to the market, you know. So >> Yeah, but see I I not uh beat a dead horse but but you care about localized demand. Like like like how I like to think about it. Like let's say I ran a Flip Wash Super Bowl commercial. I spent the $6 million I run the Flip Wash Super Bowl commercial.

[00:22:36]Mhm. Is that going to change your business? I mean, the the answer is no because people may remember it for a day then they know but then everybody's going to look at like they're not going to be able to get your service maybe in your couple locations you'll you'll get a bump for a week and then it goes down because you're not a national company yet. So like what you would care about is you want everybody in one location to know who you are. You want to put all of your energy, all of your focus on that one location and have everybody within that zip code know who you are. You don't want like but like what you're doing is you're taking all that energy and you're um distributing it. I actually did a stupid short-form video about it. It was like a a laser focus has lots of laser energy versus a a distributed flashlight, right? Um but you're doing now is you're taking all your energy and you're spreading it out and so nobody's going to know who you are because you're you're uh you're not everywhere. You just have like a like a little speck a lot of different places versus really being something in a small area.

[00:23:36]>> Right. You understand?

[00:23:37]>> Yeah, I understand. I understand. I I understand this kind of uh of development can like dilute >> You're trying to boil the ocean. Mhm.

[00:23:46]Right.

[00:23:47]>> And and and that's it's that's impossible.

[00:23:50]>> Yeah. So It's not complicated, it's impossible.

[00:23:52]>> It's impossible. Yeah. But like for example, for the locations the when we have those requests to open new locations, we we have this happening all the time. Requests for >> Yeah, because they want to give you They want you to pay them money.

[00:24:04]>> But but in this case we do a a really uh good evaluation of the location. Like for example, if you see the location uh couldn't be profit, we don't go there. I refuse a lot of proposals because I understand we we we have our um uh milestones, you know, so that we can evaluate the place to see if it fits a one location of Flippy Wash or not. So I say no for a lot of them, you know? So just a few locations we we if they check all the box and then I tell, "Okay, that's good. We we can we can try this location." This is is how we have been doing.

[00:24:42]>> I I could tell this is going to be hard, but I want you to make one promise to me. Yeah. That you're not going to open any more locations until you prove that your big Austin flagship location is hitting the numbers that you say that that you're forecasting that it can. Okay. Do you understand?

[00:25:00]>> Yeah, I do. I do.

[00:25:01]>> I think you can probably make that happen in in months. So, I don't it's not like I'm I'm saying, "Oh, don't do anything for for years." But I I worry that your your work you're thinking way too much about other locations without actually proving that you have a system that actually works yet. Like having a small location that basically pays for an employee and break even and is not a proof of concept yet. That's That's not an investable concept. But an investable concept would be something, you know, doing 600 grand a year that makes $200,000 a year that you can then, you know, replicate for you know, $100,000. I'm just making up a number of startup capital, which I'm guessing it would like you could you could do that. That's an investable model because then an investor, somebody like me, would come in and say, "Yes, like let's let's now open 10 locations."

[00:25:53]Or but they have to fit this criteria.

[00:25:55]You have to You're going to have to prove that within a 3-month period you can get it up to break even and then within 9 months you can get it up to this to this level or whatever the time frame is, but you have to prove it. You have to prove it.

[00:26:06]>> Yeah, so so in this case, because of the the experience again we had in Brazil, we believed it was easily replicable here, you know? Because right now in Brazil we are doing like 4 million per month, you know, 48 million a year, you know, in revenue.

[00:26:24]We have a lot of locations. So, the system proved to working really good there for 12 years now, you know? It's very profitable in Brazil.

[00:26:32]So, because of that, because of our previous experience, we just imagined, "Hey, let's do the same thing here." I hear the market is much bigger than in Brazil. So, as I said in the beginning, we can do 1,000 locations here, you know, we starting with the same process development process that we did that. I still believe you can. But you have to prove it with one. Right. Just one.

[00:26:54]And then after you prove it with one, go prove it with the second. Mhm.

[00:26:58]And then you go do it the third time.

[00:27:00]Right.

[00:27:01]>> And then that's how you ultimately stack it to 1,000. But you got to prove it with one first. Mhm. Yeah. So as I said >> you so resistant to that though? Like you don't I can tell that that that you don't like I I understand. No, I I understand. I I don't think I'm resistant.

[00:27:14]I just think I believed in the the in the previous experience that we have, you know? Because like it worked in Brazil. So so so that's not resistance.

[00:27:27]This is just I'm trying to do the same thing we did there. That's it.

[00:27:31]You know, I I understand it takes time like to reach the break even to make the locations profit here, you know, profitable here to make some money with those locations. But at the same time I understand like um I'm just trying to create brand awareness, you know, just put some footprint of my brand. But I also understand it's really hard to make to boil the ocean. You need brand awareness in a localized area. Like if everybody that goes to this shopping mall knows who you are, then you can have a profitable location in this shopping mall. It doesn't matter if nobody else in the in the world knows about you except for those people that come to this mall every day, then you can have a successful location. So that's your that that's your benchmark.

[00:28:16]Like if you take the same if you if if a hundred time or or a thousand times more people know about you, but it's distributed across the United States, it's not going to do you any good because they're not here to they're not here where your car wash is. You're in a local business. You're not playing a national brand game, you're playing a local game. I think that's where your that's that's where you don't you need to change your mindset. The other thing is like you tell me that your your biggest your biggest problem or what you would do with money this is always the the the the thing to me. When somebody asks say oh more money would help. What would I do with money? I would go out and hire more of a team, right? So, what that tells me is your biggest problem is you're spread too thin.

[00:28:55]Meaning meaning that you're putting your energy too many places. I mean that that's the biggest problem. That that's your biggest problem, right?

[00:29:01]That's what you're telling me when you say I need more money and that's because I need to go hire a team. So, so how do you fix that without money? You concentrate your focus on one thing or something that is manageable and prove it and then ironically that will unlock the money that you need to then do it again and again.

[00:29:20]So, that's the unlock.

[00:29:22]Yeah, it makes totally sense, you know, because right now as I said, I'm working like four or five six people at the same time. I've been doing everything. I I have to travel a lot, you know, just to check those locations to see if if everything is good. I'm in Miami, I'm in Dallas, I'm in Austin, you know, all around.

[00:29:39]Yeah, because I don't have people.

[00:29:41]I I understand like for just one location it's much easier to manage just one location to make it profitable. To build a system that is then replicatable, right? To build to to know exactly what you need.

[00:29:56]So, if you get that money, you know what to do with it, right?

[00:29:59]>> Yeah, but in in this case because of the system, you know, so we we have this kind of experience building the system.

[00:30:07]Not in the US. Not in the US, that's right.

[00:30:09]>> Yeah, it's you have not I I think that you have to you have to recognize that you're start like you have a great car wash system. And that I would I don't I don't know I'm not a car wash expert but but I makes perfect sense to me. Like I love the concept. I can genuinely I think it's a great concept.

[00:30:27]>> Right.

[00:30:28]>> [snorts] >> So, that's a great system, but you don't have a business system. When I'm saying system, a business system that that is replicatable. You don't have that in the US yet. You have to build that. It's going to look different than it does in Brazil. You have to build it from scratch. That's why you have to prove it once. Mhm. Which I believe you can. Like I just Like this is this is definitely a business idea that can work. Like I I have no doubt that this business can work. Like it makes perfect sense to me.

[00:30:54]The one The one thing that would make me nervous Do you want to take a guess? Do you want to take a guess as to what it is? I know it could be so so many things.

[00:31:02]Self-driving cars. How do you How do you Do you think about that? I know it's out of left field, but that's one thing long term that would make me nervous about.

[00:31:08]>> Right. So, self-drive cars. You mean for the the car wash market or for my business model? For both. For both.

[00:31:14]Okay. So, even even though the the self-driving cars, they need to be washed anytime, you know?

[00:31:21]>> sense. And your model actually probably makes a lot of sense for it. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:31:24]Like for example, right now I'm in Austin. I'm close to the largest electric manufacturer cars in the US, you know? So, we also have plans to do something with them, you know?

[00:31:39]Uh like the the self-driving cars. Are you not allowed to say their name? Is that a part of your contract? Is that what it is?

[00:31:45]>> No, no, it's not, you know? I just I'm assuming you're talking about Tesla.

[00:31:48]Tesla. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I live close gigafactory. Yeah.

[00:31:53]>> They just built 7,000 parking spaces garage for that employees, you know, and guests and everything else. So, of course, I have the plan to go there and set up a location inside the parking garage. It would be much easier for me to manage since I'm close there.

[00:32:07]But self-drive cars like It'd be much easier [snorts] to manage cuz you're closer there, but then what's going to happen to your other locations?

[00:32:14]We got to make one first. We got to change Because like you're seeing you The opportunity is huge and you see that. I see that. Like it makes makes perfect sense. So, you're getting You're like the person whose appetite is bigger than their eyes are bigger than their stomach, right? You see all this stuff everywhere and you want it all. Like you want it all, but you but you Have can't lose perspective of the fact that you're in this business to make money. And so how are you going to make money is by taking a step back and really understanding the system that you're building and then going out and cherry-picking the best opportunities saying, "Okay, I know this will transfer over here. I'm going to do this." Like then you start building your pipeline, but you've got to prove it first. You've got to make you you've got to have this system first that then is going to make you money, the money-building system >> Right. that then is going to then you can say, "Hey, now I know this will work and I can start printing money by going and opening a new location." Given the conversation we just had, like what do you what does success look like a year from now?

[00:33:13]Yeah, a year from now it's just make the the current locations that we have profitable so that they can prove the process. So from that point we can create our system to replicate as much as possible. You know, that's the goal. That's the goal.

[00:33:31]If if you knew what you knew today, Right. would you open all the locations that you have?

[00:33:37]Uh no.

[00:33:38]No, I didn't. You know, I would say more no's. You know? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, but but I guess I guess the the and not to put you on the spot with it, but like are there any locations that you think are taking more energy than they're ever likely to be worth that maybe you need to walk away from? Yeah. That's right. So especially you know, with small locations like because just to manage a team it it's a big problem. Yeah, it's not easy.

[00:34:06]>> and you don't revenue like I if you if you did $250,000 of revenue last year, and [snorts] like what what I worry about and the reason I'm harping on it is I want to help you. But it's that I I worry that, you know, putting any energy into something that's not going to work is wasted energy. And so sometimes the hardest thing to do and I've had to do this and and I've talked about it publicly in my freight business and in an HVAC service business, sometimes the the answer is to walk away and to refocus your energy on the thing that you know matters. And that's hard to do.

[00:34:42]It's It's hard to do because you don't want to give up. It's human nature, but it's not giving up. It's re- It's taking your limited energy and going all in on something that you know will work. I I agree. I agree.

[00:34:54]I I I I question me a lot about this kind of situation, about these things.

[00:34:59]I'm always asking me when is the time to say no or when is the time to stop, you know, to review things, you know? I understand that and I also It's really um It's a very fragile point for us to to realize. So, until where we can stretch or when is the time to stop, you know, and make our questions, you know, questions ourselves.

[00:35:26]Uh of course, I in in the Let's just say 1 year, 2 years ago, of course, I I wouldn't have opened those locations.

[00:35:35]Some of them I I wouldn't have said no for them, you know?

[00:35:41]Um but but when we have this kind of appetite, you know, to grow the company, to make things happen, I think it's really hard for you to see things clearly.

[00:35:54]When is the right time to say no, the right time to stop, or the the right time to give the next step. I I understand what you're talking about. Yeah, I guess, you know, what would happen if you said if if you said, "Okay, I'm not going to spend more than 5 hours a week on anything that is not the Austin flagship location." What would happen to the rest of the locations? If you If you said If you said, "Paulo, you Mhm. 5 minutes 5 hours a week, that's all I have up to X time to deal with whatever issues.

[00:36:33]Other than that, nothing. Would they still exist or would they not not No.

[00:36:38]They wouldn't work. Yeah.

[00:36:38]>> No. Yeah. And see then and then this is your problem. Yeah, I I I I understand.

[00:36:43]I understand it's a lot right now, you know.

[00:36:46]I feel like I'm I'm spinning a lot of plates at the same time. Because you are. Yeah, I am. I am. I definitely am, you know. Yeah. I I'm working You're self-aware. Yeah, yeah, I am. I I'm working every day for 12 hours, 14 hours a day every day, nonstop. You know, I'm traveling a lot just to handle everything.

[00:37:05]Because I had this kind of vision, let's open as much as you can, we can, me and my team, you know. Just to to put the brain on more There's a at least an American expression, work smarter, not harder. And this is this is the This is the this is this is the situation for you. And you know, the the biggest cheat code is to to work smarter and harder is really the reality. Because you're a hard worker and I know you're going to work hard and be successful ultimately, but if you focus yourself Mhm. um you're going to you're going to move way quicker. You're going to grow way faster if you focus. And that's that's the irony about it is like if you focus it, you're going to find that you're actually going to achieve your goals way quicker. But you're doing it right now on extremely hard mode. You're working way harder than you need for for the outcome that you're getting. Yeah, so so sometimes I I ask myself Well, you can stop I'm telling you. You don't have to ask anymore. I'm giving you permission.

[00:37:59]This is this is I I I I I firmly believe this this is the answer for you. Mhm, that's right. You just gave me the answer that I I've been questioning myself. That's right, you know. But I want you to really believe and really do something with that. Like I guess I see like you're you're like you're so you're still resistant to >> I'm not. No, I'm not. Actually, I I'm listening uh to your uh analysis, you know, about the whole situation. I'm listening to you. Of course, you have much more experience, you know, doing things, growing than me because I just started, you know, a few years ago.

[00:38:35]>> Well, sometimes I think just like for experience or not, I think an outside perspective is sometimes helpful cuz like you can't when you get in when you get when you're so close to it, it's sometimes hard to to see from it.

[00:38:45]I we all go through that. Yeah, especially step back. When we are inside the situation, it's really hard to to realize the whole thing, you know, what's happening at the moment, and step back. So, I think a vision from someone else from outside, you know, it's much valuable to try to to to show me things, you know, how the things could be different.

[00:39:06]>> put you on the spot, like what do you think or now, what do you think? What do you What are you going to commit to doing after we get out of here? Like what What is What are the next steps for you going to look like? I will reveal uh the the process that I'm taking right now, you know, so this um the moment that I'm passing through, open a lot of locations, you know, working as crazy to manage everything at the same time, probably I will review all this situation.

[00:39:39]And [snorts] I will try to risk from my list, you know, what's uh is what's not essential, you know, so just to focus on what is essential and prove my concept. As you said, just take one good location and try to prove it, you know, try to make some money from that place.

[00:39:57]>> one one thought exercise I would have for you. Yeah. Um cuz I was just doing the numbers in my head. Uh cuz I think you're onto a great business and and um I think it's a I think it has [snorts] the potential to be an investable business, actually, and I don't think that very often. Like let's just think that Let's just think through the math as we're sitting here today. Like if like you believe that you can get your Austin location to $600,000 a year making $200,000 of profit, right? That that that's that's that's that's the that's that's the math that you >> Right. that you believe is possible for that location. Mhm. And because of your business model, um you know, or I guess I never asked you how much startup cost do you estimate um to for that? Yeah, depends on the size of the location.

[00:40:38]>> for the Austin location? For the Austin location, it was around a hundred thousand. So, I didn't I guessed right.

[00:40:43]So, hundred thousand dollars. Okay.

[00:40:45]Yeah.

[00:40:45]So, let's say you prove that you prove that model out, right?

[00:40:49]>> Mhm. Um and then somebody comes in and says, "Okay, I want to open a hundred of these." So, that means that I would be doing $60 million a year, um making $20 million a year profit with a $10 million investment. So, you're telling me I could get a 200% return on my capital if you prove out your model. That's that's what you're that's what you're you're saying. So, >> Yeah.

[00:41:11]but I'm telling you is if you just go out and prove that model, then you're going to have you're going to have a tremendous amount of success whether you do get the 200% capital return on capital yourself with your partners or or you go out and you get investors, people will be lining up to sign up for for for to invest in you. Mhm. Um but it all starts with proving you can do it once. The first one. Yeah. You understand?

[00:41:35]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:41:35]>> Um so, like where where my mind where where like I think if you're worried about thinking too small, think about, "Okay, well, what if I scale this?" But you have to know what you're scaling.

[00:41:45]Like you don't Like right now, you don't know if you're scaling Like if I were investing you today, I don't know if you're going to go do what you're doing in Miami, if you're going to go do this Austin model, Mhm. what do the numbers really look like? I don't know. Mhm. But like you prove it once, and then my head said, "Okay, I now I know how to scale it." But go out and do that once, and then um and then do it as many times as you possibly can if if you can get those economics.

[00:42:08]>> Mhm. Right. Yeah, I I think like uh we were so obsessed with the idea of the past. You know, uh and then You were conflating growth of locations with growth of business and profit. They're two different things.

[00:42:23]>> Yeah, yeah. They are different, but uh what what's the the the process of thinking about that?

[00:42:30]As soon as we we spread, we growth locations, our profit also will growth, you know? So, that was the the the first thinking process, you know? But we understand they are two different realities right now, you know? So, we are growing locations, we have a lot of work, we have a lot of things to to manage, and the profit is still are not coming, you know? They are reality uh apart from each other, you know? But as I said, I think we were like V-shaped on the the initial idea of the the past success that we had in Brazil, you know?

[00:43:07]Because the process was is smoothly we got there in Brazil, 100 plus locations, $4 million dollars in revenue. So, it's easy to do the same thing here, you know? So, but I understand it's not easy, you know? It's It's not the same process.

[00:43:24]I'm just starting again.

[00:43:26]>> Everything's easier everything's hard is all about perspective. You have to do the hard thing at least once and then you then you can replicate it. But it's like the you're it's like trying to do too much no matter no matter what. Like if you if somebody tried to do the same thing in Brazil trying to do it all once would probably still fail because um you know, it's the details that you learn to like really nail down the process by doing it once. Like what Then you can scale it.

[00:43:57]But you But you've got to deal You got to You've got to get those details nailed down once. You're not going to get those details nailed down if you're trying to do it in a lot of different places.

[00:44:07]Um One one thing I want to ask you about cuz I think it's interesting is I do think that there's a rising trend of entrepreneurs like yourself finding businesses that work in other countries and bringing them to the US. What do What do you think about that?

[00:44:22]>> Yeah, I think yes, it's a trend. I've been seeing a lot of this happen, you know, even from Brazilian companies. We have a lot of Brazilian companies here in the US selling franchises and growing here. And the the opposite is the same.

[00:44:36]People taking good ideas of business from the United States and taking it to other places, you know. So, sometimes it work it but sometimes it just doesn't.

[00:44:48]For those Brazilian companies like half of them they closed in the second year.

[00:44:53]Here in the US. They tried to replicate that and the second year is gone.

[00:44:58]Because they didn't have the system.

[00:45:01]Probably the the American Did you make the same mistake cuz you did that did you get >> yes, that's right. I'm aware of that, you know, I always thinking about that.

[00:45:11]I'm trying to be very careful, you know, with this kind of situation.

[00:45:16]Having right now an American partner, he lives in New Jersey. I I think it can help me a little bit, you know, but of course it's not a guarantee of nothing, you know, but I understand the process was really complicated for those kind of business. Some of them especially right now because of technology because of systems and also AI and everything else when we don't depend physical structure, when you don't depend a lot of people, you know, it's easier to make this kind of situation successful, you know, but like for me I understand for me for my company and for my project here it's a big risk, you know. I'll leave you with this. If I had one dream for you If I had a if I if I could if I could be you for 6 months, Right. this is what I would do, and there's not even a question to me. And so, I just I'll leave you with the thought bubble, and you can decide what you want to do with it. I would go all in on my one location.

[00:46:17]Um I would I would either shut down every other location or minimize the bleeding as much as possible, um and go all in on this one location and making it work with the idea of proving my model to what we just said of the the $600,000 with $200,000 profit, cuz I would know that if I did that, then I had a cash machine. Like you like you would not believe how like if I had a model that I really believed could scale that way, that is like a that is a dream for anyone. Um because you have a very capital light model that you can go out and scale um over and over and over again, but you want to I would really just go all in on building that that system that business that I believed in, um because then I know I could sell it, but I would like if I had that kind of economics, I wouldn't want to sell it.

[00:47:05]I'd find a way to to go finance that myself. Um but I would be all in on that.

[00:47:12]And then the second piece of it, which I think will go a long way to helping you to to to build that dream, um would be I would take all this excess time that I found that I'm not traveling around, that I'm not doing all this other stuff, and I would start videoing myself while doing this. Like like like people on YouTube and Instagram love car content.

[00:47:36]Um you see them everywhere. Like I I I I people and own car dealerships. Like like it's a big it's a it's a um big niche. And um I would take all my excess energy uh uh into building my system for my awesome location, and I would start filming it, getting people permissions to to film their cars if they if you You that permissions to do that, get get testimonials and put all my excess energy into doing that and building up that to the biggest location you can.

[00:48:02]You do that and then you know, the the the growth will take care of itself after that. But I would take but I would take all my excess time and go all in on doing that. Yeah, that >> Because that because to to fulfill your dream of your 10-plus years, people got to know about you. I agree with you. How are you going to make that happen? Well, Yeah, that That that this is your this is your playbook.

[00:48:26]>> Right. The the online content, you know, the the social media, yeah, it helps a lot.

[00:48:30]>> to be you. I mean, you're the you're you're you're the guy to do that.

[00:48:33]Um but but you can't do that while I'm doing everything everything everything.

[00:48:38]So so if I were if I were you, if I could live if I could go and live in your shoes today, I would, you know, take a hard look and I would figure out a way to make Mhm. that plan happen.

[00:48:48]Right. Um cuz if you make that happen, then everything else will fall into place. There's no question to me.

[00:48:53]>> Yeah. We we have actually we have so so many ideas.

[00:48:57]Uh like we can improve the business or we can add more services. We can make more innovative uh you know, And you can experiment with that if you do that in in one place.

[00:49:07]Pick one place and experiment until you make it work in one place. Experiment as much as you want. Film all that experimentation and show show that and and and show people what you're doing.

[00:49:17]Prove your value in that location.

[00:49:19]Right. Yeah, because si- since the beginning um I I like to say that we are one of the most innovative uh car wash companies in the market right now because of the services that we offer, because our process, and also because of the the concept, the model that we developed, like how we offer this service to the market.

[00:49:39]>> From what you've explained to me, I totally get that. Makes a lot of sense.

[00:49:42]>> Yeah. So, of course we can explore a lot of on this, you know? So, yeah, I just don't have too much time to to do it, you know? But uh >> in the right in the right area.

[00:49:54]>> Yeah, you >> the highest and best use of Paulo's time. Like where is that going to be?

[00:49:58]It's I think I believe it would be in the two-pronged approach that I outlined. Right. Yeah, this is a great advice, you know? So, it's very important for me to listen from from people from outside my business. You know, how they see it.

[00:50:14]How they see my business happening, you know, or even how they understand what I can stop doing what I'm doing, you know? So, like like for example, we stopping doing this because it's not working, you know?

[00:50:27]Because as we said, I'm so immersed on everything right now, you know, it's really hard to see clearly the the ways that we have to take to make it happen, you know? So, this is very important to me. Especially because when I when I'm doing everything by myself, you know, I I can't I can't see around. I can't see clearly. Yeah. But, sometimes it's, you know, refocusing and taking what may feel like a step back, although I honestly don't think it's a step back.

[00:50:53]It's putting all your energy in one direction, and then that's how you ultimately get to the escape velocity that allows you to do to do the scale otherwise. Right. Um, but I mean, I think you have an amazing story and like, you know, I you know, do videos about all types of business ideas that I try to find relatable. And the the mobile car wash is one that comes up a lot.

[00:51:16]And you know, I do think that you know, you're a testament to the fact that you can start, you know, knocking door-to-door with basically no equipment and and ultimately turn it into a successful business. And you you've done that, but I think you can take it a lot further, and I look forward to watching that journey. Okay. Okay, sounds good.

[00:51:37]We will We will watch to it, you know?

[00:51:40]Yeah. Thank Thank you, Paulo. I I appreciate you having the conversation with me today. Thank you, David. It's a pleasure to me uh be here to talking to you. I've been watching to your content.

[00:51:49]It helped me a lot, you know, uh during my my day-to-day, especially during my work, because I identify real situations that I'm facing now. And it's so uh clear when I when I watch to you, you know, talking about those challenges.

[00:52:07]For me, it's uh a really valuable uh content what we talking to people, you know, I I I really appreciate that. I mean, I'll say like the things that I'm most passionate about, like this whole focus idea, often times come from um me um not following that advice and um getting myself in trouble and learning learning learning the lessons the hard way. And so, the things that I get most passionate about come from my failures and not wanting to see you or anybody else um you know, go through them and um and you know, I just I I have a tendency still to this day to want to do too much and to to go in too too many different directions and just try to solve too many problems. I think it's the nature of all of us entrepreneurs. We all want to grow faster. We all all want to do more. I still suffer from the same the same problem.

[00:52:54]Um but that's why I think um I get so passionate like when I see, you know, someone that, you know, I I see making some of the same mistakes that I've made. It's like, "Oh, no. Like let's let's let's refocus a little bit here because I just think it'll it'll be so much better if you do." Right. Yeah, you can save a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of money, you know. That's that's that's that's my hope. Uh but we're all we all it's a constant learning process and none of none of us have it figured out. Um it's a learning process, but that's also what makes business so fun, in my opinion. It is. Yeah, and sometimes so stressful, too. And stressful, but yeah, you got to but but um it beats the alternative to me of having a of of of being bored and not and not having anything that you're passionate about or have meaning around you. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

[00:53:40]>> Thank you, David.