In the first Do It For A Living roundtable discussion, we discuss the idea of certifying shops, tuners, and engine builders to work on customer cars. Kevin Dubois assumes the role of a shop owner. Ben Strader takes on the task from an education standpoint. And Todd Earsley will act as a consumer. The idea is to bring a sense of legitimacy into an otherwise fragmented market. Think of something like ASE certification for mechanics, or Better Business Bureau for businesses, or even Master Plumber certification. We go over topics such as: Does the industry need some sort of...

  Kyle Shelley is the sales director for Turn14. He was good friends with the founder ofJSC Speed (and then Turn14) and got to see the business be created. He had several sales jobs before becoming the first employee at JSC Speed. He started out at the bottom and worked his way up over the years. Turn14 was actually established in 2007 and JSC Speed was sold off in 2011. This is when all the efforts were put into the wholesale business. Turn14 has a new “authorized seller” solution where the Turn14 customer must be approved by the part manufacturer...

  Steve Ciabattoni started his career in payment processing right out of college where he was recruited (by his current partner) to work for a very large payment processing company. In 2011, he and jumped ship and created 360 Payment Solutions. Now, 360 Payment Solutions serves nearly 3000 merchants and employs 28 people. They label themselves as a Payment Processing provider, meaning that they help companies accept all types of payments including: checks, gift cards, electronic payments online (paypal), as well as credit card processing In this interview, Steve discusses the new chip card technology (known in the industry as...

  Jim McIlvaine used to play professional basketball but now he runs the social media and web-presence for Optima Batteries. While playing basketball, Jim would do freelance work for magazines where he would meet people and attend events across the country. After Jim left the NBA, he eventually joined Optima Batteries as their “E-care Manager” where he created the Facebook page and began answering questions or comments on web forums (You may be familiar with his forum handle OptimaJim on almost every forum in existence). Today, you will see him at many automotive events taking pictures, streaming videos, and answering...

  Back in early 2000, Chris Raymond was building websites and forums for other people. He saw a void in the market for a DSM forum and set out to make one himself. This is what spawned DSMTuners.com He also runs Garage 40 which focuses on automotive businesses to help them with social media, email marketing, web design, brand/reputation management, just whatever the customer needs. Brand management is tough because you have to be in every place when your shop or product is talked about by your audience. In this interview, Chris explains the ever-changing atmosphere of online marketing and...