Pitch Please

00:03.40
mike_flywheel
What's up everybody. It's Mike we're back here on the pitch please podcast today I've got Dennis from wheeleay you all know I love puns. So this one's goingnna be a fun one real easy is disrupting how you get your car serviced directly from the comfort of your home maybe other places too. But we're gonna find out more Dennis let's turn it over to you to you know, get your full name your position at wheeleasy and start to learn a little bit about you. So.

00:25.27
Dennis
Thanks Mike Sounds great yeah my name is my name's Dennis Ho I'm founder and Ceo of wheeleaasy mobile automotive service.

00:35.50
mike_flywheel
Amazing. And um, you know, tell us a little bit about you know your your history. You know you're the founder. Are you an automotive tech have you always loved Auto like what sort of kind of got you here. So.

00:46.83
Dennis
Yeah, for sure. Well I you know I had gone through the automotive program at Fanshaw college here in London so I had graduated back in 2010 moved into ah moved into a small ah tire shop out in Niagara Region and um you know that was just a family owned shop. Ah a dad and son were operating that so I got a lot of insight into how to build customer relationships working at a small shop like that and then eventually I got my license after I had moved on to a larger used car dealership. Where I had spent ah spent about 10 years there in a number of different roles including working as ah, working as an auto service technician and then I spent some time a service manager as well. So it was a good good chance to build some of those customer relationship skills as well. Myself. And and work on managing a team and and interacting with our customers and with our sales department as well. Yeah, and then in 182 I decided to come back to western university ah in London here with the idea that I eventually opened my own shop when I entered the business program at ivy business school. I had started to get a lot more exposure to entrepreneurship so I had started out. You know working at a summer internship at a company called car juggle it was a startup that was working on an Ai car appraisal tool and then also as part of the business program was our new venture project. So that's where this.

02:09.69
Dennis
Real easy idea really came ah came out where we were tasked with developing a business plan and and testing the feasibility of of a ah business like this I had always you know had my family and friends really enjoyed. You know, getting their car service just in the driveway you know, mostly oil change tire swap things like that. Thought this could be a possible business that a lot of people might be interested in as well. So we had worked on building up the business plan and working on some ah some marketing materials and and as a part of that project I decided to go out and do some of the tire swaps in in customers driveways just for purposes of. Getting to know the customers and really learning what was important to them as a part of this service also to earn some income while I was in school and then you know it was received so positively that I decided to continue on with it. We entered some business plan competitions and some pitch competitions. Did pretty well in some of those and earned some ah some seed funding and after I was done school I decided to continue on with it so it had been a couple of a couple of busy fall and spring seasons for tire swaps adding more services as well as participating in Fanshaw College Business Accelerator a couple of summers ago. And and eventually western accelerator this past winter as well. There's been a really good Really good experience trying to trying to combine some of my multiple skills you know working as a technician and and and being in the business program and and getting to meet a lot of great people.

03:26.26
mike_flywheel
I Love it.

03:38.19
mike_flywheel
Yeah I love that journey. So like you started out with this deep rich knowledge of hands-on how to go work as an automotive tech then you had this moment where you know you wanted to take those skills and. Open your own shop so you went to school in a more entrepreneurial business type way and the outcome of that was actually going into a startup to go actually work hands-on with some of these business skills and then you sort of pivoted from an auto shop. 2 I want to disrupt this space now with this this newfound learning I really like that.

04:12.43
Dennis
Oh yeah, and you know all the time I had spent in the shop like it's ah it's an area where it's kind of you know, resistant to innovation generally always you know trying to order parts online and things like that. It's just.

04:26.21
Dennis
Interfaces Are you know caught in the past and you know the the line of thinking for a lot of a lot of owners in the shop environment is kind of not really thinking to move forward very much. So I think you know for you know younger people who are trying to enter the trade. Have kind of more innovative ways of doing things. It can be a more appealing more appealing way to come in.

04:47.28
mike_flywheel
So Tell me about you know you said you started as an automotive tech and you went to school for that and you sort of went down this journey with the desire to open your own shop. Um, tell me about that entrepreneurial Bug Did you. Have people around you was this always sort of the goal was it something that developed where you had the desire to open your own shop after working as an autotech for some bit like what sparked you to become an entrepreneur I guess.

05:16.97
Dennis
Yeah I think I would say you know working working at a Lee Tire the first shop I was at and and directly with the owner and just seeing the way he was able to run things any way he pleased right? You know coming. Ah. Coming in early for for jobs that need to get done and and staying late. You know that was that was it was all his decision and all possible because he was out there trying to trying to build the business and and ah and make make customers happy and you know as I as I spent some more time working in a larger organization at the dealership. Didn't really have that type of flexibility and I could I could tell you know there's there's a lot of ah, a lot of possibilities to to do things a bit more you know, maybe maybe your own way or trying to make your own path and and develop things and solutions that that you encounter directly. You know in the field right? It's not necessarily doing things the way you always have done trying to innovate and and create better solutions for people was a really big reason that I thought that I could I could you know create these better solutions myself.

06:26.50
mike_flywheel
That's cool now as an automotive mechanic I Assume you have some passion for cars. What's like your favorite dream car.

06:34.49
Dennis
Oh I'd like to have ah you know several several different generations of mustangs you know? Yeah yeah, exactly well I like to have ah I like to have an old mustang you know, sixty five Sixty Nine Mustang those would be ah those would be really nice I see I see 1 right on the street that I always.

06:36.62
mike_flywheel
Yeah, got to pick one the lifts need to service customers.

06:52.40
mike_flywheel
Why Why is that your dream car.

06:52.48
Dennis
And I always dream about having ah you know gone in 60 seconds you know a lot of a lot of times I use that car in movies and and I've always been a I've always been a big Ford fan. So those those will be the icons.

07:08.72
mike_flywheel
That's that's super cool. Are you driving a Ford mustang right now. It's hard to get all the things you need to all the customers and afford mustang I'm assuming.

07:11.66
Dennis
Oh no, no, not not so much. Not yet, That's true. You know I had thought you know it might be nice to have a unique type of vehicle as a service service vehicle. So maybe ah, maybe someday we can make it work.

07:24.58
mike_flywheel
I Love it. Well, let's talk about then your your entrepreneurial or I guess startup experience. Would you say that shaped a lot of what pivoted your direction from opening your own shop or was it actually. Just your time spent in that program at Western was it one or the other like what what were some of the biggest takeaways from from Car Juggle. So.

07:50.85
Dennis
Um, yeah, like I guess I would say that um, again, that was it was not necessarily a defined role. You know I had been in I had been in jobs where it was very clear cut what we need to do. And we're all. Ah we're all reaching towards this. Um this goal together. Um, that is clearly defined whereas with car juggle. It was a lot more ah a lot more latitude to be creative and try and develop different different approaches to the same problems right? We're trying to. Ah. Find a way to to help our you know people selling cars privately get the most value out of out of their car. But as it turns out there was also this other need where you know used car dealerships were looking for cars to sell you know back in 2021 is kind of ah, kind of a. You know, deficit of used cars out there on the market. So we kind of identify this different need so we had pivoted within that business to try and to try and address this new need kind of with some with some parallel or kind of um you know in conjunction with the the selling of the car needs. So kind of along those lines I thought you know it's not necessarily having to stay the course or or try and accomplish these defined goals just trying to you know use the technology that we developed to find different ways to apply it. So I thought that was ah that was a pretty interesting ah pretty interesting way of you know, framing.

09:15.98
mike_flywheel
That's cool.

09:21.44
Dennis
Customer S needs and trying to address those so I try and translate that into what I'm doing now I kind of understand what people need out there on their cars. You know, servicing their cars in the driveway and then they have they have more and more needs as as they get to know me a few times we've done the tire swap and then they ask me for some different services. Might not necessarily be something that I would you know be offering right now. But I'd love to be able to you know, make them happy and and and satisfy their needs so trying to adapt what I'm offering to what they need is is really important to me.

09:53.51
mike_flywheel
Um, that's that's cool I Like how you've taken a bunch of the thinking around you know, hacking the problem and understanding the customer pain points and brought that over to an area that maybe it's not as as richly explored as you sort of described. So Let's talk a little bit about wheel easy. But before we do I want to understand the name. Um I Love Puns. How did you come up with wheel easy and then after that we'll we'll talk a bit more about your business but I want to hear the story. How did? How did you get here.

10:22.50
Dennis
Oh yes, oz is quite quite a few years ago I had thought of this wheel easy name. This was this was before we were even doing the project at school I had kind of been offering. You know, very informally, right? just on Kajigi facebook marketplace offering to do these these. Services for people in the driveway I thought we could legitimize legitimize ourselves with a name wheel easy was the name we came up with honestly thought it was very silly at first. But then I had a couple of friends who ah, who really? ah thought it was a good name keeping things real easy. You know wheel easy. So we we decided to stick with it and and a lot of people had enjoyed enjoyed the pun much like yourself.

11:04.98
mike_flywheel
Yeah, it's fun I like that you brought like a little bit of fun to this this space and and I'm sure that puts a smile on on people's face. Well that wheel easy wheel easy. Um well Dennis let's let's learn about wheel easy. Obviously this this.

11:12.17
Dennis
Easy to identify ah easy to identify I guess.

11:22.86
mike_flywheel
Show's called pitch Please So before we dive into learning all about your business Dennis your pitch please.

11:27.39
Dennis
Yes, sir well wheeleasy is a London -based mobile automotive service provider designed to help busy working parents and professionals simplify car service instead of calling to book an appointment traveling to the shop and waiting around with your car for hours. With wheel easyy you simply book online and our certified technicians will come to your house and complete the work you need right in your driveway saving you the time and hassle of dealing with the shop and leaving you with more time for the important things. Our new and easy to use booking platform is now live at wheel dash easy dot ca so if you're a london come check us out. And we can't wait to see you out there.

12:03.89
mike_flywheel
I Love it that is super concise you hit on so many different points. Um, now let's let's let's dig into it a little bit. Um I always talk about the fact that a great pitch. There's so many things I can go feed off of as we dig into this business before we dive into too many of them though.

12:09.87
Dennis
Um, thank you doors.

12:23.37
mike_flywheel
Help me understand this space So you're obviously going to people's homes um to to help what sort of the spectrum. Obviously most people know of you know the physical brick and mortar. Um mechanics I Guess there's the automotive shops that are independent and then there's the ones that are obviously.

12:27.61
Dennis
Yep, that's right.

12:43.31
mike_flywheel
Connected to a brand but like is that it what's the diversity of what's out there tell us a little bit about this space and the market opportunity. So.

12:43.62
Dennis
And then.

12:52.56
Dennis
Yeah, so yeah, you definitely describe. Ah, many of the the traditional type of shop which most people or I mean pretty much everyone will be familiar with traveling to the shop and and encountering the service provider and having your car go into the shop and yeah, you wait and what might be a dirty waiting room. And then you know you you might get told what type of services your car might need in addition to what you had brought it in for aside from that. Um I I had as part of our project. We had research and found. There was a ah number of mobile. Service companies that were starting to come into existence and starting to grow a couple of companies like ah like go oil and go wrench with a focus on mobile service obviously go oil is kind of as a focus on oil changes. Um, and then go wrenches is kind of a full service mechanics full service. Mechanic offerings. So we thought we'd kind of slot in there somewhere ah with a focus on tires. So I had always thought this you know tight winter tire swapping obviously around here is something we do twice a year. Um. Every car should have winter tires in my opinion. It looks like about seventy to eighty percent of cars are using them are using them currently and just if we could you know I had been brought up in a tire shop and done most of my apprenticeship out of shop that focused on Tires. So I kind of have a deep knowledge of of tires.

14:20.46
Dennis
And I thought this would be a good way to a good way to build a niche in there focusing on you know tire swapping tire sales tire repairs and tire storage for people just to kind of just to kind of get ourselves established and and you know getting the the wheels off the car is a good way to kind of. Inspect and and see what's see what's going on suspension wise Breakwise can give people a bit more insight there. So there are ah there are a number of traditional options that we're trying to trying to kind of overcome some of the challenges that people face with those traditional shops. There are some mobile options which I see as. You know validation that there is interest in mobile service and that's kind of what I've experienced as well. You know people are largely not aware of mobile automotive service as an option generally um, over eighty percent of people didn't even know it existed at all before they before they met with us. So I'm happy to happy to make that more apparent to them. They can share the message with a lot more of their their circles which has been a really good way for us to gain more customers and then and then giving people ah a great experience and keep them keep them coming back.

15:31.22
mike_flywheel
That's that's interesting Now you talked about the fact that you go to the customer. Um it and it can be anywhere. It can be at my office. It can be at my home like where's sort of the spectrum of where you guys will it go do the service or is it better to do it at their house.

15:41.65
Dennis
Yeah, yeah, the home driveway has been great. You know, especially for the tire swapping most of the time the tires are there now we're starting to offer tire storage which has been a great solution for people. No need to haul it out of the basement or off some. You know, high up shelf in the corner of the garage and then kind of feeding off of that as you had kind of mentioned. It's a great opportunity to have the tire stored and then be able to go do this tire swap anywhere right? at the office is definitely a great great. Option for us. Definitely no, no additional challenges there oftentimes more space than than at home and and it's it's you know that's where we're really trying to increase some of our business by trying to partner with some offices. For example, we had a ah business here. Um, in London um, that we had arranged a tire swapping event for their employees so we would go there swap tires on 6 or 7 vehicles going to make things easier for their employees. No need to take time off work and and go ah go to the shop to do the tire swap and then just. Offer some offer some minor discounts just because we're able to do so many in bulk right? The traveling is the main the main. Ah the main expense for us. So if we could do several at 1 location. It's it's really good for us.

17:00.83
mike_flywheel
Yeah, the efficiency now. Let's talk about that the services now you've talked about tires and you talked about some of where the other competitors are what is the range of services you offer today and you know what is that. You know going to evolve to look like in in your mind right.

17:19.75
Dennis
Yeah, so we're we're really definitely trying to feel ourselves out in this area so myself personally ah I'm a licensed mechanic so I feel pretty confident in doing all types of repairs the actual doing of the repairs. Um.

17:36.47
Dennis
We offer the tire swapping and the tire sales for sure and then we we now offer them mobile oil changes as well as ah, an additional offering the other repairs we've offered them kind of on an informal basis where they would inquire and then we would. Quote things out on a case-by-case Basis We have kind of faced some challenges with getting the right parts obviously instead of the parts place bringing parts to our fixed location shop. There's a bit more travel involved. Kind of a challenge sometimes to go and diagnose a problem on someone's car and have to travel away get the parts and then travel back to complete the repairs. So. At this point we're really focusing on the type of regular maintenance that's kind of commoditized between cars the tire swat for sure is almost the same for every type of car. Oil change is very similar for many types of cars whereas some of the other repairs might involve a bit more a bit more nuanced so we will definitely try and carve out our niche in the tire space and then start to build up some of the regular maintenance offerings. And and then continue to think about whether or not we want to go directly into more of the more complex repairs in addition to that we are trying to build up a few more relationships with other mobile automotive adjacent service providers things like dent repair detailing key cutting and reprogramming.

19:07.64
Dennis
We've got partners in all of these areas that work off from a mobile platform as Well. So if we have you know, see some dense on someone's cars. We have some someone available out there to ah to help them as well to try and consolidate a lot of these mobile services maybe into one maybe into 1 Organization or 1 offering.

19:24.86
mike_flywheel
Yeah, that's super cool How you're like already kind of creating these cross referrals amidst this now talk to me and it also sounds like you're trying to find things that are frequented and repeatable that need to be done rather than the like hey I've got a sound.

19:43.22
Dennis
E E e.

19:44.59
mike_flywheel
And I need to go figure out what that is. It's like no these are like regular scheduled things. Um, that have to be done repeatedly and you're you're tackling that now on tire swaps like I know you can have a second set of rim and tire or some people just have a different tire same rims. Do you. Focus on 1 or both where where you added this stage and in that regard. So.

20:06.50
Dennis
Yeah, of course very easy to just if the tie at the winter tires on their own set of rims very easy to just come and you know take the lug nuts off put the other wheel on put the lug nuts back on very very simple. That's kind of been our bread and butter so far. Um, our goal is for this fall season to. Get a sprinter Van get the tire machines on the van and then we could be full so tire service out on the road. So We have the tire machines just in in the shop here now we are able to do off rim tire work at our home shop. But at this point it involves traveling back and Forth. You know. Back to the shop to do the work back to the Customer's house to to put the wheel back on but my goal in the in the short term is to get to get to be full service tire work by having a van that can house these machines.

20:56.20
mike_flywheel
That's pretty cool now you said you're in London ontario how how big's the team and um, you know what's sort of the growth to this point sort of looked like and are you thinking about expanding it to other markets. What sort of your you're thinking around that.

21:06.80
Dennis
Yeah, yeah, of course so we've got we've got myself and 2 other technicians out there working with me so it's a very seasonal job for the tire swapping. So these guys are with me with me part time now they're they're actually students of the same fanshaw college automotive program that I was. In the past. So they're coming through with ah with the same level of education as I am we had recently put them through a certification course with Ontario Tire Dealers Association so now they're they're certified to ah to do all types of tire repairs and and tire work and things like that. Um, and then beyond that we've got someone helping us with marketing just doing social media posts and other other sales outreach and things like that and then we've also we've also got the development team that's helping us work on our custom booking flow as well. So instead of using our out of the box. You know wix website. Ah has served us very well in the early going and now we're trying to refine this booking process so that customers can book more than 1 car more than 1 service. Perhaps they might have a couple of locations that they might like the the work done at their home or their office. So like to make that all a smooth process for them to to book online with us.

22:19.62
mike_flywheel
Makes sense and so you've got these sort of like these 2 spikes if you will of tire tire moments amidst in between there. There's probably repairs or swaps and then you've got consistent oil changes.

22:29.62
Dennis
Yes, yeah, getting new tires and things like that. Yeah, exactly exactly. So It's kind of been a ah bit of a yeah, definitely well described as spikes in trying to trying to weather these slower periods has kind of resulted in trying to add more. And add more types of services as well.

22:47.86
mike_flywheel
Cool and when and when you start you know having that this sprinter Van does that mean you also like can people purchase their tires from you as an additional service. So it's like yeah, all all.

22:57.79
Dennis
Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah, people can do that now and you know it's It's very easy if they're just ah, you know as winter comes up right now if people have a set of winter tires that they need replaced on their winter rims could get it. Go pick it up and then put the new tires on those rims and then all set to go when it's. When it's actually time to put them on.

23:17.61
mike_flywheel
That's cool. So now you're there's obviously convenience here which is I think for the one of repairs obviously maybe going to a shop makes sense but for tire swapping oil changes like the convenience of not having to book that in and. You know manage it across a busy time of the year where they can only fit you in on Wednesday at three because that's what's convenient for them. It's like well sure that's convenient but I'm at home and I'm on calls for you.

23:40.40
Dennis
E e.

23:45.14
mike_flywheel
You can go anywhere so it provides more flexibility even in these surge periods because the customer is okay because their car's just sitting there. What Um, what difference does this cost me. So obviously there's convenience here is this like way more expensive.

23:49.67
Dennis
Um, yeah, yeah.

24:00.56
mike_flywheel
Then the average tire swap nearly the same How how are you kind of building that model out.

24:04.40
Dennis
Yeah, we Ah, we kind of set it up to be about the same. You know it's it's It's actually lower cost than most of the dealerships would charge. Um, you know we can keep these costs kind of minimal just because we have much less overhead. Obviously we're not I'm not renting a shop or any paying lease on any shop out there. It's just running the vehicles and traveling has been has been the the biggest cost So We we try and keep the barriers to trying our service minimal by not charging ah a big premium. Of course there is. Potentially ah, the ability to charge more for this type of convenience which is something we're we're thinking about as well. Um, you know I'm trying to keep it as accessible to as many people as possible at this stage but it could be.. It could be a case of trying to trying to leverage The. Convenience into charging a higher price down the road. Perhaps.

25:02.95
mike_flywheel
It makes sense so what's like your as you talk about down the road. What's sort of your future vision here for what you're building out with wheeleasy is it to build like a central source is it to build like a franchisable model. Um, is it to build. On the back of this and go down more of a technology route. What are you sort of thinking and what is sort of in the next six to twelve months if you will in this space.

25:27.36
Dennis
In the short term. We're definitely focusing on getting the tire business ah kind of self-sustaining right? So at this point I'm going out to do a lot of the tire swaps myself. So. It's not really a sustainable model I mean we know we can't. Scale ourselves or scale our time. So I'm working to to increase ah increase our capacity by adding more technicians over this past summer I had been teaching at Fanshaw college for an automotive service technician apprenticeship program with the goal of. You know building the pipeline and having more more people that we have connections with to give us that potential additional capacity for these surge periods um, kind of along those lines though. Um I also see some potential on the on the software side as well. So what we're developing in terms of the booking flow is primarily a better experience for our customers having the ability to book online seamlessly at all. But we're also building in the background of that is a more efficient schedule for our technicians as well. So. I had encountered in our servicing so far that sometimes people would book in the north end and then in the south end immediately after so it could have a 30 to 40 minute drive between customers. Sometimes in fact, so.

26:52.43
Dennis
This was a big problem that I had kind of learned about going out to do the service so on the development side we're trying to build a system where it can centralize these customers geographically into the same time period. So someone from north London booking on Monday morning. For example. Would mean that now Monday morning is only assigned for North London customers so anyone booking from Northland would see Monday morning but anyone in South London would not see Monday morning as an available booking slot. So having this efficient booking platform. Um. Being tested with our company I think it gives the opportunity for many other mobile service providers to utilize this type of technology as well. Anyone with you know, 5 to 10 appointments per day may see themselves traveling a lot throughout the city in a number of different areas and if they could potentially. Optimize their travel. They could meet more customers so I had you know in many cases out there on the road in the past you know I had been on 1 street traveled away to a different area of town and then returned to that same street. You know, almost next door neighbor. And only to find that that neighbor said oh in the morning you could' come I wasn't doing anything you could have just come and and done it so trying to you know all that information is out there. The customer availability my own availability if we could use technology to kind of communicate these availabilities and and set up a way that makes.

28:24.39
Dennis
Most efficient sense for me with no impact on them and I think this is very positive for for our tire swapping business and potentially some other types of mobile service businesses as well. Not only automotive but you know maybe you know landscaping or plumbing or Even. You know I had a friend who's a mobile dental hygienist and and mobile dog grooming and things like that I think these are all businesses that potentially could use a technology like this so trying to move forward I see building up that tire business. The wheeleasy business using this technology is ah in the background. Wheel Easy would be the first customers try and validate this type of software and then get it out there to more more service providers that are that are on the road.

29:08.35
mike_flywheel
That makes sense. Yeah because to your point the software benefits you but anybody that has any mobile business offering whether that's detailing or dent repair dog grooming or hygien all those mobile things are.

29:19.35
Dennis
Me.

29:26.80
Dennis
Yeah, exactly exactly.

29:26.90
mike_flywheel
Trying to root optimize or booking optimize So You're really building a booking optimizer for everybody while continuing to build out build out wheel easy which is Cool. You've got like tech and a traditional business that's being you know a traditional service business that's being disrupted in some way which is which is pretty cool and I almost envision some. Ability If. You've created like a sustainable set of services. Um, that you know an independent individual that maybe doesn't have the tech platform or the business awareness could franchise something like this out from you as the central booking um model ah to to help. Light this up in multiple regions really fast which is really cool.

30:09.12
Dennis
For sure like in my ah you know in my mind there's there's definitely a possibility to you know, have this open as an uber style marketplace perhaps technicians who have you know spare time on Saturday or Sunday could make themselves available. Customers who want to connect with technicians coming to their home to do the work. You know when I started out as a mobile technician in this space. There really wasn't 1 platform that gave me the ability to you know book appointments take payment make invoices. You know, organize customers communicate with customers. Ah, like to make the wheel easy platform a tool that can as you say people who have the skills can just supply their supply their labor plug into our system and then just get get to work immediately exactly right? Everyone's life can be made wheel easy.

30:54.78
mike_flywheel
Yeah, just make their lives real easy I I love it now. Dennis tell me about obviously we're talking through this like it's super simple. Um, but getting anything up and going has its challenges. What's sort of been the hardest part. Of of sort of building this up to where you've gotten it today.

31:15.30
Dennis
Oh yes, lots of ah lots of tough stuff. Well I mean number one was was just going out to do the work myself. So it was you know, limited on time you know I was trying to trying to do this trying to start this business up while I was in school so that that. Kind of limited my time ah to spend on spend on assignments and things like that so that was kind of sad at that point but looking back it was ah it was. It was okay, um, and then trying to balance the time with the with the family as well. So I've got I've got the wife and and a nine year old and a one year old and. Trying to trying to spend as much time as possible with them while also trying to you know nurture my own other baby here of wheeleaasy has definitely been definitely been tough but they've been very supportive and and you know. now my now my 9 year old daughter can identify winter tires from all season tires. It's really funny. Yeah, exactly she she wants to she wants to come out with me. She had come out a couple of times just you know hanging out in the car while I was doing the work. But.

32:11.80
mike_flywheel
So soon you're gonna have a new employee out on the road with you. So.

32:24.32
Dennis
But she's ah she's very interested in. She's very interested in the tire business but also interestingly she's you know, coming up with all types of different business ideas of her own. So it's really, ah, it's really great to see to see that side of it coming out too.

32:38.13
mike_flywheel
Yeah, she can help you when you get tired or when you think about retiring all of those things you show it all types of funds Now What's been sort of you know on the flip side.

32:43.86
Dennis
Yeah, exactly Oh yeah, yes, all tell types of puns right? ah.

32:53.20
mike_flywheel
Um, I'm sure you've got lots of really cool stories or or you know heartwarming moments is there sort of like something that stands out to you as part of this this journey or maybe it's even part of being part of these pitch competitions which is maybe less traditional for people that have you know been working in the automotive industry. What's sort of the most.

32:56.36
Dennis
So is.

33:12.68
mike_flywheel
Enjoyable or or memorable experience for you so far and.

33:15.97
Dennis
Yeah, well I would I would definitely say I love to see and help people who had helped me in the past. So you know I take it as as some serious validation when many of these ah people who I had pitched to and people who had been my professors and. People had worked on the projects with me in the past now they now they would think of wheel easy and think of Dennis anytime they have car problems. So 1 of my professors at ivy there. Janice Byrne she had been an entrepreneurship professor she had come to speak with us at western accelerator. And then she not one week after that she had found herself with a car that wouldn't start so I went out there and we we stuck a new battery in in the car and got her on her way so that was ah that was great to be able to to help her help her after all the help that she'd giving me over over the yeah. Time spent with her and then that's you know beyond that there's been all sorts of you know people who um had come up to the door to greet me and they had 1 kid wrapped around their leg and 1 kid in their arms just you know they are so thankful for how much easier. This is compared to having to load up 2 kids in the car wait around the shop for an hour or 2 and then and then have to have to have their kids with them for that entire time not to say the kids are a problem necessarily but I can. Yeah yeah.

34:38.62
mike_flywheel
No, you're giving the gift of time alongside wheel service which is pretty pretty cool.

34:45.26
Dennis
Can be can be a bit of a challenge out there I know based on my time in the shop and my time now on the road that but that could be could be difficult to get there sometimes so happy to make that make that easier for people.

34:58.27
mike_flywheel
That's great and it sounds like a lot of people are benefiting from that already today now you know as we kind of come to to tail end here. Obviously you've got a bunch of different learnings both from your experience working on cars. Then you know aspirations of opening your own shop and now kind of pivoting that to I want to innovate in this space. Um, what sort of like advice that maybe you'd have for other people trying to find their own entrepreneurial journey or start their own thing.

35:14.39
Dennis
This is.

35:27.56
mike_flywheel
And whether that be a traditional business or maybe actually spending the energy to make it disruptive like you're doing.

35:32.15
Dennis
Yeah, well I would just say you know there's nothing to it but to just do it. You know nowadays out there. It's so easy to so so I should say it's easier to start just just start things and get some of the ideas out there. Some of the accelerator activities we had gone through was really, you know you could start up a website you know a Wix website for free and then and then offer your services or offer your products. You know come up with ah come up with a domain name and then and then build up the website and. And run a few Google ads and it's it's really easy to go out there and very quickly see if people are interested in these types of services or products that you're offering so we had just done this again. It was not a calculated approach of starting starting to offer these services right? We just put on kajigi. Tire swap at home essentially and then people started responding and then that's how we kind of validated that there was a market for this and then and then we can kind of tailor it a little bit more as time went on. But if you're you know, having. Thoughts of starting any type of business or starting a ah venture. It's it's so easy these days to just ah to get to get things together and get things started and and see if it makes sense.

36:49.38
mike_flywheel
I Love that and I love that you also baked into there The idea of like that micro validation before you go try to build out this giant enterprise just get some stuff out there and start trying things out and you will get very real feedback if this is an idea worth spending more time on because people will.

36:54.97
Dennis
E.

37:00.82
Dennis
Um, yeah, um, of course.

37:08.81
mike_flywheel
Will buy or reach out and it helps you sort of not have the 100% perfect version right? from day zero. But you you have to just start putting one foot in front of the other which which I love how you started that stuff.

37:17.98
Dennis
Yeah, it's hard to is sometimes hard to you know, think about things way down the road but but but today it's it's no problem to to start? Yeah, thanks Mike.

37:27.64
mike_flywheel
I love it. Well thank you Dennis so much for joining us today I love the name wheel easyy I mean I'm called pitch please. So we got something uncommon with with our love for puns I also love for cars.

37:37.19
Dennis
I like it. Ah.

37:42.19
mike_flywheel
Um, love the work you're doing I love the aspirations of really transforming this and and including some aspect of tech or scale and really building it building it from the ground up I look forward to it expanding to many many many other markets beyond London Ontario keep up the great work.

37:47.38
Dennis
Yes.

37:55.90
Dennis
Um, yes, sir.

37:58.81
mike_flywheel
Ah, to everyone that tuned in Thanks again for listening to to pitch. Please hope you enjoyed Dennis's story and I'm sure if you're in the London area you can you can check them out once again, just for everyone. We'll include it in the show notes Dennis if they're looking to get there tires swapped oil changed or repaired and they're in the London area or just looking to maybe help. You on your journey where can they find out more information. So.

38:19.72
Dennis
Yeah, please do our website is wheel dash Easy Ca So you'll be able to to book your appointment on the website there or you could have a look at some of our blogs with some car service tips and and also you know our story so far as well. If yeah, if you care to follow along.

38:38.34
mike_flywheel
Cool. Well thanks again for joining us Dennis everyone I hope you enjoyed this episode of the pitch please podcast and we'll catch you on the next episode have a great night.

38:38.91
Dennis
Follow along.