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Lavar Stackhouse has been recognized as a Small Business Superstar for the last three years for his mobile auto detailing business. And we’re full of details about how to recycle that old website content for better results!
Transcript:
Jeff Randolph:
Welcome to the Small Business Miracles podcast. I’m Jeff Randolph. This small business podcast is brought to you by EAG Advertising & Marketing. We are going to talk about marketing. We’re also here to celebrate entrepreneurs. We have marketing news and advice that business owners can use to keep moving forward. This week we sit down with Lavar Stackhouse. He is the owner of Attention To Detail, a mobile card detailing service. But first, we’ve got another small business marketing tip to talk about.
For today’s marketing tip, let’s talk about the content on your website. Most of us understand that we need to produce content on our website. Usually that’s for search engine optimization purposes. Search engines see new content on a website and know that you’re making an effort to attract more people. It gives those search engines an opportunity to crawl and index new terms on your site or build more confidence and higher ranking in the terms that you already have. Most of us focus on creating new content until we get to that point where we think, “I cannot figure out how to say the same thing I’ve been saying over and over again in a different way.” Hey, a tip within a tip here. AI is really good at helping you do exactly that. But instead, we usually just write new content.
Be sure not to overlook the value of the existing content on your website. It’s probably already drawing a lot of traffic to your site, especially if you have a page that’s ranking well for a particular term and it’s bringing in lots of your customer base. Instead of building all that new content, you could just update old content with new data or new visuals or a new perspective.
Like if AI comes along and gives you a slightly new nuance to what had been your best advice on that topic, then republish that page with more and better content and you’ll see even more traffic as a result. You could also repurpose that old content as an infographic or a video or a slide deck or all of those things. And you can turn a series of blog posts into an ebook or send it out as an email series. That’s this week’s marketing tip. Repurpose that old content that’s already working for you and you’re going to win.
Welcome back to the show. We are joined by Lavar Stackhouse. He is the owner of Attention To Detail, mobile car detailing service. Welcome to the show.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Thank you, sir.
Jeff Randolph:
All right, happy to have you here. Mobile car detailing, give us an overview about the business and what you do.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Come to your house, your office, your wherever you are.
Jeff Randolph:
Wherever you happen to be.
Lavar Stackhouse:
And make magic, man. Turn my headphones on, turn my generator on, plug into your house and make magic, man.
Jeff Randolph:
Just make everything beautiful in the car.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Yeah, yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
Tell me the origin story. How did you get started on this? Go back in time and tell us of all the industries and all the businesses you could possibly be in, what was it about auto detailing that was where your passion led you?
Lavar Stackhouse:
I love that question. Just had an epiphany one day actually before me and my wife were having our first kid, I was currently working at Topgolf, shout out Topgolf. But I had a little free voucher for the waterway out there, and I’m just in line. It was like an hour wait. And I’m like, “Dude, I can do that.” And I was already going through the gamut of start my own business, working for myself, just what can I do? You know what I mean?
And so I’m out there, I’m watching these guys just toss dirt around. And so, I got on the phone, I typed in mobile car detailing. Let’s see what’s going on. And sure enough, there was a bunch of guys doing it, I mean, out in Kansas. And so I was like, “Dude, I think I can get in this game.” And so, one thing led to another, talked it over with the misses and the game was made, man.
Jeff Randolph:
It’s on. Yeah.
Lavar Stackhouse:
The work part of it was easy, the legality side, technicality, getting your business started, licenses and all, blah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That stuff is the only thing I really had to consider. But I mean, I knew I could do it. I’d already worked at J Wolf back in the day, so I knew how to clean a car.
Jeff Randolph:
The physical part of it. That part was the easy part.
Lavar Stackhouse:
It wasn’t rocket science on how to clean a car, but just the business side of things, so to speak. And so, that was that, man. And that was about seven, eight years ago now. And here I am, man. It’s been fun.
Jeff Randolph:
Well, and here you are. Let’s dive into that a little bit because you were recognized by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce as one of the small business superstars in 2022, ’23, ’24. You picked up honors for the Best of the Northland as a top auto detailer. Congratulations on all that first.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Thank you. Thank you.
Jeff Randolph:
You quoted Taylor Swift from the Grammys when she said, “The award is the work.” Tell us what that means to you.
Lavar Stackhouse:
First off, thank you for that. And also anyone can vote for me for this year.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s right. If you want to vote.
Lavar Stackhouse:
For Best of Northland. But that Taylor Swift, man, I just love quotes. And the Grammys, I honestly just watch it for that part of it, the quotes and just the speeches and just to see what their minds are like. You know what I mean? So I can just impart that on my day-to-day life. And that one really stuck with me, man. Of course, you know Taylor’s the talk of the town now.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, sure. Yeah.
Lavar Stackhouse:
I was tuned into that a little bit more, of course. But just listening to her talk, man, because I don’t really listen to her music that much. But just seeing that and listening to those words, man, it just really resonated. Because like you just said, I mean, I’ve won awards so to speak, but that doesn’t really matter, man, because when you’re out there in 100 degree day in a driveway with your headphones on, sweating bullets, that’s the award.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s the award. Yeah, yeah.
Lavar Stackhouse:
You know what what I mean? To see the mom come out that’s in the house, tweedling with her kids. And she comes out, she’s like, “My car is clean. Kids don’t ever get in it again.” That part of it is and I could, of course I’m not Taylor Swift or any one of that ilk, but I still could understand what she was saying that night. Does it compare to her in the studio, 2:00, 3:00 AM, probably getting some lyrics together or whatever the case may be, man. Quotes in general really resonate with me because it’s just a good way for me to see the mind of other people and impart it on my life. Yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
You talked about seeing that person come out and see their car after it’s been done. What is the best part of the job? What is the most rewarding part of seeing that happen?
Lavar Stackhouse:
Honestly, that man, the customer service side of it. Because like I just said, anybody can clean a car, man. It’s not rocket science. But truly caring about it and having somebody come out and appreciate the time you spent on their car. You know what I mean? And so, it really is a joyful feeling, like it’s rewarding just to get back to that again. That is the best part, man. That the work for yourself and know that everything you’re doing is for you, the good, the bad, the indifferent, it’s for you. You know what I mean? And your family, and it just feels good. You know what I mean?
Jeff Randolph:
Well, and I know customer service is something that you’ve described as being really important to you and your business, especially in a service-based business like yours. What is your approach to customer service? How do you stay focused on that service?
Lavar Stackhouse:
Pay attention.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, yeah.
Lavar Stackhouse:
I mean, honestly, I know it’s simplistic to a degree, but if you just genuinely pay attention. You know what I mean? Like how we’re talking right now.
Jeff Randolph:
Sure.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Just a genuine conversation, but you’re paying attention to what someone’s talking about, man. And it really goes a long way honestly. The car cleaning part of it, it’s going to take care of itself. But what else? Always say that with everything in life. What else? I mean, you won an award, you did these things. What else? It’s always something else. And so, to truly care about someone’s car and their personal time and possessions, whether it be collecting their chains in the center console and really taking care of their stuff. If I see the little kids’ favorite little toy, maybe wedged under the seat, I’m not going to throw that away. I’m going to put that to the side because Timmy might’ve been looking for that forever.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s right. Care. Just be a good human.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Thank you.
Jeff Randolph:
And care and pay attention.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Thank you. Especially in 2024.
Jeff Randolph:
This should not be rocket surgery. Should it?
Lavar Stackhouse:
It’s not. It’s not.
Jeff Randolph:
This should be easy to come up with. Well, speaking of the pay attention and care, what is the future of the business? What’s next? Where does it go from here? Where does Attention To Detail go?
Lavar Stackhouse:
Man, that’s a dazzling question. I’ve thought about that for quite a while because I’ve already dipped my feet into other regions of life. And so, my end game, I truly want to bring all the detailers together and make an Amazon in Kansas City because we don’t really have a design detail store here. And so, you can get a few things at your Home Depots, Walmarts of the world, places like that, but our specialty items that we need, our steamers and extractors, and then the specialty equipment, you have to get on Amazon or the websites and things like that. And that takes time. If I’m out there in your driveway and my nozzle head breaks, I can’t run down to Home Depot and pick one up.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, right.
Lavar Stackhouse:
You see what I mean?
Jeff Randolph:
You’ve got to have something in the back.
Lavar Stackhouse:
It’s one of those, yeah, you have a backup or it’s just one of those conversations you have to have, “Hey, this happened. I’m going to maybe have to order another one, unfortunately.” And you have those conversations and that’s customer service. But getting a shop. Because there’s other regions that have them as well, I’ve looked into. And so, getting a storefront to where I have all supplies for all our local detailers to come and get equipped. You know what I mean? Because it’s getting more popular. And I love to see that. I love to see my buddies ask about it. I love to see, there’s been a few clients of mine, their husbands have started businesses, so it’s been cool to see detailing get bigger. You know what I mean? In this area, because it’s bigger in Texas, Florida, California, of course. To see it take hold here…
Jeff Randolph:
Get here.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Has been great. Yeah, that’s my end goal because of course, man, I’ve been in it eight years now, so it’s my body is my body.
Jeff Randolph:
There’s a limit…
Lavar Stackhouse:
Exactly. Exactly.
Jeff Randolph:
To what you could do at some point.
Lavar Stackhouse:
And I’m a one-man band, so I don’t envision getting employees and things like that. Getting the storefront and helping other detailers…
Jeff Randolph:
Interesting.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Is probably going to be my-
Jeff Randolph:
Move right up the food chain.
Lavar Stackhouse:
There you go.
Jeff Randolph:
Good choice. Good choice. Well, Lavar Stackhouse, I think we’re ready to go into the lightning round.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Let’s do it. Let’s do it.
Jeff Randolph:
If you’re ready.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Let’s do it.
Jeff Randolph:
All right. I’m going to start with just, there are all kinds of Instagram and TikTok accounts out there that are dedicated to the soothing art of showing something that goes from disgusting to amazingly clean. It’s a very satisfying kind of thing to watch. You can stare at them for hours. Are you just a big natural fan of those things, or do those accounts just look like work to you?
Lavar Stackhouse:
No, there was one guy when I first started, of course, because I just love taking notes. And I’m not above board learning. I’m going to ask questions. And so, when I first started, I would watch a lot of those videos. There was a couple that I would love to watch like Detail Freak, Chauffeur’s Garage, and guys like that. Yeah, that stuff was definitely appealing to me. And it cures my OCD a little bit.
Jeff Randolph:
Why?
Lavar Stackhouse:
Because I like to see something clean and nice.
Jeff Randolph:
I was curious if there was just a little bit of that OCD in there.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
But you don’t ask about somebody, you let somebody else bring up their OCD. You don’t ask about that.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
I’m go back into your history and your background. And you have an avionics maintenance technology degree from the Aviation Institute.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Yeah, yeah.
Jeff Randolph:
How did that come about and why aren’t you helping us keep bolts on Boeing’s doors right now?
Lavar Stackhouse:
Honestly, it was just maintenance. And so, going through schooling and things of that nature, I just wasn’t aware fully of coming out of school, the training you needed, the experience you needed. I just wasn’t equipped to go work at the airport, places like that. I always like to tell people that’s my in the back pocket when I’m like 50, 55 years old, I can go work on the ramp at MCI and just be my retirement plan. But yeah, I just didn’t go down that field. I mean, being in a warehouse did not appeal to me as you see. I mean, I love to talk to people.
Jeff Randolph:
You want to be talking, you want to be outside. You want to be moving.
Lavar Stackhouse:
And so at the time, it sounded appealing, but just wasn’t the path of life, that’s all.
Jeff Randolph:
Gotcha. Well, I want to see with this next question, if we can out you or if you live this life. You do great attention to detail in everything that you do. That is the whole job, is to make sure that everything, you’re getting into the tiniest details. Does that only apply to cars? If we ask a family member, your wife, people who know you, are we going to find out that it’s like the cobbler kids with no shoes and that at home you’re just this giant mess everywhere?
Lavar Stackhouse:
No, especially if you ask my wife, I want things my way more times than not. I am a tad particular with things, that may be saying that lightly. But I always like to tell people, and I tell my kids all the time, “If you don’t know what you like, how are you going to know what you want?” I mean, it’s a thin line, but yeah, I don’t try to overstep too much, but if I know or see that my way could be correct, I subtly imply my ways.
Jeff Randolph:
“Honey, the fork in the dishwasher goes this way, not that way. There’s a reason why.”
Lavar Stackhouse:
We’ve definitely been down that fork up or down thing. And I’ve honestly, that’s funny you mentioned that because I’ve asked other people that. And it’s 50/50 thing with the fork up, fork down.
Jeff Randolph:
Tines up, tines down, which one is the right way to go? Is there a right way to go?
Lavar Stackhouse:
I’m a fork down guy personally.
Jeff Randolph:
Okay. Well, and everybody has their own way of doing things.
Lavar Stackhouse:
I also want to grab in. You grab the top of the fork. I don’t think.
Jeff Randolph:
Yeah, you’ve got your hands on the tines. It’s not the way to do it.
Lavar Stackhouse:
It’s not the way to do it.
Jeff Randolph:
There’s a right way and a wrong way to do just about everything. It’s knowing yourself and knowing whether or not helping someone else see the right way is going to be a good thing for you. Or if it’s going to be either a short trip to the divorce attorney or…
Lavar Stackhouse:
Stand down.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s right. Easy, guy.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Stand down.
Jeff Randolph:
You don’t need to tell them that. You don’t need to tell them. As a business owner, what part of your business do you wish you knew more about?
Lavar Stackhouse:
To continue the life trend, probably the financial side of things. She handles our tax, my taxes, keeps my business licenses in order, and she keeps me legally obligated. However, I don’t know how you want to say.
Jeff Randolph:
Compliant, legally compliant.
Lavar Stackhouse:
There you go. There you go. Maybe that side of things because I’m a people’s person through and through, the work. That side of it, maybe I could probably be a little more knowing of.
Jeff Randolph:
Well, the nice thing about being an entrepreneur is that you don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to know what you know and then know to get the right people to do the rest of it.
Lavar Stackhouse:
There you go. There you go.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s a good start.
Lavar Stackhouse:
I know who to give my money to. That’s about it.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s a good a start. That’s a good start. How do you celebrate a big win? Let’s say you’ve accomplished a goal, you’ve done something that you’re proud of, that you’ve been working on for a long time. How do you celebrate that?
Lavar Stackhouse:
It’s always going to either a concert, which I’m going to one here in a few days, or an Eagles game.
Jeff Randolph:
Eagles game.
Lavar Stackhouse:
I always save all my brownie points and things that I save up throughout the year and small wins for Eagles games.
Jeff Randolph:
Gotcha. Gotcha.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Football season. Summer is fun, family time, stuff like that and all that good stuff. But football season, I do like to get to one Eagles game on the road a year.
Jeff Randolph:
Oh, on the road, okay. Yeah.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I go to one on the road a year. Of course, this past year was easy because they came to me.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s right. It was a much shorter commute for you to get to…
Lavar Stackhouse:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was great. That was great.
Jeff Randolph:
Go watch both Kelce’s play against each other or something.
Lavar Stackhouse:
That was a good time. That was a good time. Wish the weather was a little better, but whatever. It’s football season. Yeah, that’s my me time, so to speak. A good concert or good Eagles game. That’s how I celebrate.
Jeff Randolph:
Excellent. Do you have a best concert of all time, this was the top?
Lavar Stackhouse:
Oh, man. Probably the second Drake concert.
Jeff Randolph:
Not just the first, the second.
Lavar Stackhouse:
No, no, no, no. It was the second. It was the second. Not Take Care. It was the concert after the Take Care tour. Literally in the ceiling, he had a raptor and it was like a walk Raptor thing and the Raptors. And it was so cool. I just remember in one part of the songs, he did drop down and the walkway dropped down through the ceiling and it was so cool. But it was probably my favorite that I could remember. I went to a Jay-Z concert back home when I was super young, but I don’t really remember that, so I can’t say that was the best. I wasn’t an adult yet. I couldn’t really enjoy.
Jeff Randolph:
Right. I sometimes ask about a concert regret. And I’ll give you the setup for it and see if you have something similar. The concert regret for me was like, I am in line to buy tickets back when you were physically in line to buy tickets and Nirvana was in town. And I was like the next person in line. And I got up there and they’re like, “Oh, all the floor seats have just been sold. You just missed out on it.” And I thought to myself, “If I can’t be on the floor, I’ll get them the next time they’re in town.” Of course, no, they never come back after that. Do you have that same concert regret?
Lavar Stackhouse:
I do.
Jeff Randolph:
I wish I would’ve seen.
Lavar Stackhouse:
I do, but I don’t. My last bucket list guy’s Usher. And thankfully, it was funny because before we did the Super Bowl, I was telling my wife, “Dude, that’s my last guy I want to see. I really want to see Usher.” When I was in high school, I had a chance to go see him, but of course I was in high school, so I couldn’t buy them. It just wasn’t conducive at the time. And so that’s been the one one.
Jeff Randolph:
If I could see, get back there.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s right. That’s right.
Lavar Stackhouse:
I’m looking forward to getting to one of his shows on that tour for sure because I mean, he’s by far my favorite artist of all time.
Jeff Randolph:
Well, all right. Well, Lavar Stackhouse, you have succeeded. You’ve made it through the lightning round, so thank you very much for making it through there. How can people find you if they want to learn more, if they want to get in touch with you, if they want all of the magic to happen on their cars, how do they find you?
Lavar Stackhouse:
I would honestly just Google me. You can Google Attention To Detail. I’m on Google if you’re in the Northland or Lavar Stackhouse on all socials. Just first name, last name, nothing special. You’ll find me. I’m out there. Yeah, man, let’s have some fun. My website’s linked to all my socials too. Yeah, I’m not hard to find. Let’s have some fun. Make some magic.
Jeff Randolph:
That’s step number one. All right. Well, Lavar Stackhouse owner of Attention To Detail, mobile car detailing service, thanks for being with us today.
Lavar Stackhouse:
Thank you, man. Thank you for having me, Jeff. Appreciate it.
Jeff Randolph:
And that is our show. Thanks to our guest, Lavar Stackhouse, and thank you for listening to the Small Business Miracles Podcast. Remember to subscribe, leave us a five star rating and review. Drop us a line on the website at eagadv.com if you have any thoughts. Until then, we’ll be out here helping entrepreneurs with another small business miracle.