Who is Reid Lunde? 

I came from a non-car family in Washington State and I have always been interested in cars and business. At 10, I was selling my old toys so I could buy and modify my RC car. At 12 I started a skateboard wax company and sold wax in local skate shops. By 19 I had worked my last day as an employee and I haven’t had a job since. I started KAIZENSPEED in a backyard and with no money. I’ve grown it into what it is today; a parts manufacturer, online retailer and performance tuning business, and we’re growing rapidly.

Since 2004 I’ve been building cars and selling parts. I’ve done everything from tuning, fabricating, designing new products, driving 8-second FWD cars, and running a business. In 2004 I arranged the first EFI University class in Washington state and I’ve been involved in dyno tuning ever since. I gained experience from building one of the fastest FWD street-class cars and I use that experience in my performance business. I’ve recently realized that building relationships is the most important aspect of business and motorsports. When you know quality people you talk about quality things, and it changes your thoughts. Instead of thinking about local drama or unrelated current events on TV, your mind naturally focuses on things that matter. But this only happens if you fill your mind with quality content. DO IT FOR A LIVING is my project and my attempt to deliver quality content related to the performance industry. Remember…

…YOU are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Who are you spending your time with?

 

Kevin grew up in Holland, MI where he didnt get involved in cars until he was in college.   He had a mechanical background having worked at a bike shop and raced both mountain and road bikes through high school.   In college he dabbled with his own cars, an '87 porsche 944, followed by a '84 VW GTI, and last a '87 Porsche 944 turbo.  

Finishing with a Mechanical engineering degree, he moved to Dallas, TX to work for lockheed martin as a systems engineer on various programs over 8 years.   In addition to working at Lockheed, he attended UTA for a masters degree in Controls engineering, but got involved in Formula SAE which consumed his time for two years.  Kevin attributes that experience to the deeper understanding of engineering race cars and how to tune them.   

After his experience in Formula SAE he began tuning his friends Evos based off his experience tuning his own Evo.   From there, Evolution Dynamics was created to make official what had become a small tuning and install shop out of his garage.   Over the years, Evolution Dynamics grew to support the Evo community in the DFW area, as well as most of Texas and surrounding states.   

For Kevin, Evolution Dynamics had grown but with it came problems only other shop owners can understand.  Learning on the fly what to charge for jobs, tracking work, managing employees, and all the paper work, taxes, payroll, ordering parts, was a challenge.  Kevin teamed up with Todd Earsley to help manage the shop, over a summer internship while Todd was doing a MBA program.   From this shop management role, it was quickly apparent that there had to be something better, and Kevin and Todd created My Shop Assist to help manage the shop.   4 years later, MSA is continuing to grow as they keep rolling out new features and addressing problems with the industry.  

in late 2015, Kevin, Todd and Reid teamed up to keep the Do It For A Living Podcast going as a regular podcast people can listen to as well as expanding the content that shop owners so badly need to be successful.

to Kevins Introductory podcast here

Listen to Todds Introductory podcast here