How did you get your start?

Sunbreakers · December 17, 2018

My little suburb was quiet and boring place. Two guys came in from FL. with flashy cars and opened a tint shop down the street from my parents. Always had cool cars there and working on them. I started hanging out with them. Later they gave me a job. After about a month or so they told me "you may be good at many things, but you will never make it as a window tinter." I left and started buying film through a friend of mine's dad's business doing cars anywhere I could. 3 years later I bought the shop of the guy who sent me away. Two years later I opened two more stores in FL. Parents convinced me that tint was not where it was at....although I was making good money by then so I sold my shops and went back to school still tinting with one employee. Graduated with a master's degree and tried to give up tinting for good, but the phone never stopped ringing. Now I have been at it ever since. This February will be 32 years. Glad I never gave up.

Bham · December 17, 2018

We used to cruise the Parkway all night long on the weekends(parking lot parties). There was this little tint shop at one end of the " run " that we all used to hang out at. Cool little shop, and I always enjoyed watching them work as much as hanging out. Seemed like a cool type of business to be in and be able to work on cars and spruce them up.

I tried to get the owner of that shop to hire me a FEW TIMES :evileye , but he never would. Even let him tint my car. I thought it might be cool to have my own shop one day and have my own pet pig harassing everyone that comes in.

Anyway,,,,,,, when the video store I was managing got bought out and they made all there changes in staff, I needed a new job. Went to the competition of the shop I had been trying to get a job at, and the owner there was transitioning out of the business and into law enforcement. He needed someone to work while he was doing his training and whatnot to get through the academy and go full time as a Sherrif. He trained me and I ran his shop for a while until he shut it down. Bounced around to a few shops before going on the road for specialized construction for a few years. Still tinted in the parking lots while working all over Florida. Got off the road and found an accessories shop that needed a tinter. Got back into the tint life and a few years later ended up in a partnership, running a tint bay along side an accessories shop. That partnership fell apart and now I have my one, measly little bay, all by myself. Love the tint life,,,,,,, well at least my version of it. Seen a few versions that I didn't like, that's for sure. :heh

Still making the rest of the story :twiddlethumbs

Edited December 17, 2018 by Bham

Sunbreakers · December 18, 2018

@Bham It was good to get to stop for a visit today. Told you I would try to make it more frequent . I wish I had read your post above before I stopped by. I would have told you in person what I will type to you now.

In life I have learned that for every one or two good decisions you make there is bound to be a bad one. Not hiring you back in the 90's was a terrible decision on my part and an oversight that I should not have allowed to happen. I wasn't willing to give you a chance, didn't think you had the drive for it, and I let other folks influence my decisions when I should have at least given you an opportunity. You have proved me wrong many times...you have certainly been driven and you have achieved my achievements...your own shop. That one mistake of mine not only was very obviously my loss, but it also alienated us from each other and put a strain on our friendship maybe even still today. In front of all of these good, professional folks here on this forum, Jason, I want you to know I am very sorry. I hope others here can learn from my mistake and always be willing to take a chance on others. I am very proud of you for what you have achieved.

Charley

Tint Slayer · December 20, 2018

On 12/17/2018 at 10:15 PM, Sunbreakers said:

@Bham It was good to get to stop for a visit today. Told you I would try to make it more frequent . I wish I had read your post above before I stopped by. I would have told you in person what I will type to you now.

In life I have learned that for every one or two good decisions you make there is bound to be a bad one. Not hiring you back in the 90's was a terrible decision on my part and an oversight that I should not have allowed to happen. I wasn't willing to give you a chance, didn't think you had the drive for it, and I let other folks influence my decisions when I should have at least given you an opportunity. You have proved me wrong many times...you have certainly been driven and you have achieved my achievements...your own shop. That one mistake of mine not only was very obviously my loss, but it also alienated us from each other and put a strain on our friendship maybe even still today. In front of all of these good, professional folks here on this forum, Jason, I want you to know I am very sorry. I hope others here can learn from my mistake and always be willing to take a chance on others. I am very proud of you for what you have achieved.

Charley

You're a class act @Sunbreakers. I'm off the FB tint groups a couple weeks now because of all the nonstop sh*t talking and people thinking they're some sort of God of Tint, basically all the ongoing negativity gets to be too much. Nice to see some real humans here in this group.

Sunbreakers · December 20, 2018

Thanks, @Tint Slayer for your kind words. I feel it is always important to have humility so we can be better folks. Those who think they are any sort of "God" to me means they are stagnant and will never learn to improve with new techniques and approaches. I appreciate this place where we all can share our mistakes and successes and have others learn from them.

Edited December 20, 2018 by Sunbreakers

Tint Slayer · December 20, 2018

1 hour ago, Sunbreakers said:

Thanks, @Tint Slayer for your kind words. I feel it is always important to have humility so we can be better folks. Those who think they are any sort of "God" to me means they are stagnant and will never learn to improve with new techniques and approaches. I appreciate this place where we all can share our mistakes and successes and have others learn from them.

Agree 100%

jsylva · January 2, 2019

Growing up my dad tinted and ran a shop for years but never would show me the ropes because he said never tint you are better than this. Well he moved on from tint as he got older and i always would bring up the idea lets open a shop because i love cars and working around them. Again he turned me down lol . So i had a great career as a petroleum engineer but was never home so the idea of opening a shop just kept sounding better and better to stay in town and close to my family. Dad got sick and passed away from leukemia, that caused a lot of issues so long story short i needed to have a job in town to take care of my mother and my own family better. Got a bright idea looked up at the heavens and said dad im gonna do it, so make sure you watch over me haha . Quit my badass job, paid some money for a tinting class to teach me how to tint. Took the 4 day class ordered a crap ton of film way more than i needed and started tinting on a leap of faith. Got a few dealerships on board within the first month and have been tinting non stop since for the past year or so. Shop is doing great and love what i do! The class helped me get going but all the cars i have tinted over the past year has really been the best learning experience, every day i learn something new. I am a problem solver by nature so it has been a fun ride learning this trade and solving my own issues while tinting. This forum has been a huge help and thanks to everyone that has brought value to this forum and continually is trying to innovate our industry! Also its baddass that im tinting and feel dad is here with me everyday, another reason why i chose tinting was just to embrace all those memories we made as a kid hanging out at the shop with him lol! he started in the 80's in a storefront directly across the street from where my shop is now. Crazy

Edited January 2, 2019 by jsylva

Stewy · January 2, 2019

Im trying to put Bhams story to Sunbreakers. Its like Pulp Fiction 2 different stories but it connects somehow. Lol. Things happen for a reason and both of you learned something from it.