Selling Trust in a Low Trust Market: How Butler Garage Beats the “Cheapest” Shops

[00:00:00] Kei: In Thailand, doing the right thing is not always the right way. If you’re from Germany or or Japan, you’re used to doing everything by the book. You’re used to no compromise. You’re used to, it’s done this way or no way. In Thailand you have to learn to be Sabai Sabai. In Thailand, you have to learn that this is the land of compromise, especially the time mentality, the sense of ownership is not as much there. And with me, with my staff, I try to give them as much ownership as possible. Part of servicing and taking care of everyone, the flaw is a human. You can make a system as perfect as you want, but if it involves a human, it becomes imperfect. Good shops that are out there usually are owner operated. The owner is the one working on the vehicles. The owner is the one baking the cake. The owner is the one cooking the the food. The owner is the one who’s there taking care of it. Accountability and responsibility is definitely something that is not present as much in the Thai working environment.

[00:01:00] Scott: All right. So, Kei, thanks so much for joining me today.

[00:01:03] Kei: Thank you for having me.

[00:01:04] Scott: Of course. Of course. To start off, I want to give a bit of the context to the audience, like how we actually got to meet each other. Mm-hmm. And the reason I’m here in your shop today. But before we do that, how about we just kick off with a quick introduction, who you are.

[00:01:18] Where we are today.

[00:01:19] Kei: My name is Kei Sekiguchi. I’m a 26-year-old, uh, business owner in Thailand. I, uh, founded Butler Garage, um, back in 2020, uh, during March during COVID. And we’re currently at my garage location in, uh, Mueang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi, and this is where I service all our bikes and we keep our race bikes here, we take care of our clients here.

[00:01:40] Scott: Awesome. Awesome. Well, I think the story’s kind of interesting how we met though, because yeah, it was probably only a couple weeks ago.

[00:01:46] Kei: Yep.

[00:01:46] Scott: A good friend of mine that I’ve known for, you know, 10 years here in Thailand, uh, he told me he should speak, that I should speak with you, and it was because he just ran into kind of a big issue.

[00:01:55] Do you wanna kind of share what happened? ’cause you, you’re

[00:01:56] Kei: so, yeah. So your friend Adam, uh, who is, who’s a long time client of ours, uh, had his chain snap on him from a trip that he was coming back from during New Year’s. Uh. With his wife. Uh, so he just had rode this bike to Pattaya, I think, if I, if I recall correctly.

[00:02:14] And then he was on his way back from Pattaya. Um, and then almost towards the end of his trip, his chain snapped and it snapped onto his wife’s finger and she had a minor injury. Um, luckily everything was okay. She, I think her nail came off. Um, and luckily Adam didn’t crash. And then what happened was then I arranged a, a transport, so basically like roadside assistance within an hour, had the bike picked up and then brought back to here, and then had the chain refitted and then just did some other checks.

[00:02:46] Because prior to this, um, I had Adam take this bike to the dealership to get a warranty claimed, and then he hadn’t come back to us for a while, so then I just had to go through another check. Yeah. And then he told me to, to have a chat with you.

[00:03:05] Scott: Right, right. So I, I think his change at snapping was, it’s kind of scary, right?

[00:03:09] ’cause it’s back to a little bit of the service quality. And I know there are a lot of good shops, there are a lot of good dealerships, et cetera, in Thailand. But in this case. It’s that his chain snap because it was over tightened and he was going like at a high speed. Yeah. Right. And so what he told me at the time is he was like, look, I’m gonna go back to Kei every time.

[00:03:26] I’m not gonna have the situation happen again. Because of course, uh, it’s not worth saving a few Baht or going after convenience if, uh. If you’re riding a motorcycle quickly through Thailand. Right? Yeah. And, and so I think this is so interesting because back to customer service, I mean, I think another thing that was really noteworthy of this, uh, story was he was waiting on the side of the road on a highway.

[00:03:47] Kei: Yeah.

[00:03:48] Scott: And you guys came to pick him up.

[00:03:49] Kei: Yeah,

[00:03:49] Scott: I think the idea of having like free roadside pickup and someone’s gonna get to you right away that you can know the ETA is accurate, all that stuff. He, he like trusted you guys.

[00:03:58] Kei: Yeah.

[00:03:58] Scott: And, and so I think that’s a big deal and I think that’s something that we’ll talk about a bit today about how you came to kind of be that type of service provider in Thailand because

[00:04:06] Kei: Yeah, sure.

[00:04:06] Scott: That’s definitely a dominant in the rough it’s, I, I think a lot of us struggle here. To, to, to find people that actually are gonna show up on time, are gonna do good work. It’s a rare breed, right?

[00:04:15] Kei: Yeah, for sure.

[00:04:16] Scott: Cool. So I wanna know a bit more about your background, Kei, because, uh, you mentioned your last name, Sekiguchi, right?

[00:04:21] Yeah. It doesn’t sound like a Thai name. So where, where do you actually come from? Are you Thai or what’s the

[00:04:25] Kei: My mother is Thai. Um, my father is Japanese. Uh, I was born and raised in Thailand, so I grew up in Thailand pretty much all my life in the early stages. I grew up in Japan. I was raised in Japan from around one till, I was like around four.

[00:04:40] I was mainly in Japan. I. And then my mom decided to move me back to Thailand just because it was easier for her to take care of me with the amount of help that she has available in Thailand and her also being able to speak and communicate in Thai. So that’s why we moved back to Thailand. And then, uh, yeah, and then I went to international school, um, throughout my whole life.

[00:05:03] Um, always like at an American school or at a school where English was a primary, uh, teaching language.

[00:05:10] Scott: Okay, so that definitely explains why your English is so good. Yeah. Uh, it sounds like you didn’t really spend time in the US despite the fact it sounds like a US accent. Yeah.

[00:05:17] Kei: Yeah.

[00:05:18] Scott: The first thing that might come to mind then is, okay, you have a nice shop here.

[00:05:22] Is this old money? Is this, did, did your parents just write you a big check? Uh, you went to international school, they paid everything easy and then now they, they helped you buy a shop or

[00:05:29] Kei: what’s No. Um, so this shop, uh, it started, like I said, it started in, uh, March of 2020. During COVID, I actually was still studying in university as a, um, pre veterinary science.

[00:05:40] Studying like animal science to become a vet or to go to vet school since it was COVID, it was a kind of study online. So I came back during that year to Thailand because it was cheaper and I could save money. And then I always had a passion for bikes. I’ve always been riding bikes. And then I started a small shop, um, not really a shop, but I, I started buying bikes.

[00:06:03] Um, and then I would. Get bored of them with my A DHD, and then I sell them out of my mom’s driveway. And then what would happen was some of these bikes, um, because they were like dirt bikes or they’re old, they would break down. Um, and then the clients would be like, where can I fix it? Or what can I do?

[00:06:20] Like, where can I get parts? And I said, oh, just come back to me. I’ll help you take care of it. And then. Through selling more bikes because I was also getting bored and I had money saved up, up from working in university. Um, I had more clients and then I’m like, okay, I need to move over to a small shop. So then I went and rented a townhouse that was a 12,000 bottom a month, and then did that for like a year and a half.

[00:06:46] Moving to this shop, definitely it helped. I had a business partner, um, at that time who went to the same school as me and did come from a more wealthier background who did help fund this shop in a way. Um, where we still went 50 50. Um, but without that, I wouldn’t be in this location or where I am today at this speed.

[00:07:10] I might have been in this location, but. It wouldn’t be in that, uh, quick of a timeline, that’s for sure.

[00:07:16] Scott: Well, that’s quite like a career shift. Um, I love animals as well. I am sure you love animals. Actually, first off, do you have any animals, any pets?

[00:07:24] Kei: I have two dogs. Yeah, so I have two dogs and, um, yeah, and I take really good care of them, like give them all the vitamins, you know, make sure that they’re like, uh, well taken care of.

[00:07:35] They’re 14 years old and the other one’s, uh, 12 years old and they’re big dogs. Yeah.

[00:07:40] Scott: That’s still a huge career shift. So you have. Interest in dogs. You love your dogs, you’re gonna become a vet.

[00:07:45] Kei: Yeah.

[00:07:45] Scott: Now I assume you’re not planning on going back to veterinary school or

[00:07:49] Kei: No, I’m not planning on going back to veterinary school, but right now I’m doing some like online courses just to finish my degree.

[00:07:57] ’cause my credits can be transferred, but they will run out soon. So I do have a time crunch in finishing my degree without having to restart completely. So within those three years, I’m able to move. Maybe half of my credits so that I can just get like a simple like, um, business degree, um, just so I can have that for me, for my parents and just knowing that I don’t have all my eggs in one basket, even though I do have all my eggs in one basket.

[00:08:23] But it’s just that peace of mind to tell myself that I was able to do something that I did not want to do and persevere through it. It’s more of like a self, like a achievement, personal achievement than anything.

[00:08:36] Scott: That’s incredible. I mean, uh, I’m also curious about your background in racing or, or in motorcycles.

[00:08:42] It sounds like you’ve had that passion for a while, so it wasn’t like you were in school and then you were like, oh, maybe I’ll start a motorcycle shop or repair shop, or anything like that. Uh, like how, how early did you get into solution?

[00:08:53] Kei: Right. With motorsports, like, it’s always been in our family. Like my dad has always been, been into bikes.

[00:08:59] My uncle has on my Japanese side has always been into like rally racing cars, and I, I. I did like some more sport from like racing from five till I was 13. So it always has been in the background. I’ve always been around bikes, around racing teams around like professional like racing environment from that age, like early on.

[00:09:20] Yeah.

[00:09:21] Scott: Yeah. I think it surprised me too that there’s quite a good, um, set of people here in Thailand that love to race. Yeah. There’s what, uh, rum, I think track is a

[00:09:30] Kei: rum, the race track, which is the motor GP track, um, that they host like the best motorcycle racing F1 of motorcycle. Yeah. So they host that there.

[00:09:40] Which is amazing, and F1 is coming to Thailand in a few years as well. So it’s like Thailand is definitely one of the core hubs of motorsport in Southeast Asia or in Asia in general.

[00:09:51] Scott: That’s incredible. Um, and again, I think a lot of people know this and I think in Pattaya and some of these other places, you’ll see that there’s a lot of gathering of supercar and uh, and motorcycles, right.

[00:10:01] I think you could live in Thailand and you could live in the inner city and just not know that this exists.

[00:10:05] Kei: Yeah.

[00:10:05] Scott: Um, and so it’s really quite incredible at the level it’s reached in. It sounds like it’s gonna keep on. Coming up right.

[00:10:10] Kei: For sure. It’s uh, I see it evolving every day. Um, like you have even teams from Europe or in the US coming to Thailand to, to practice their off season racing.

[00:10:21] So it’s definitely gonna grow.

[00:10:23] Scott: Alright, so another question that I have for you then is, I’m really interested in the origin story of this shop, and you mentioned, I think that it. Sort of started or started ramping up during COVID. Can you talk me through that time, like what was actually happening and then how did you actually kick things off here?

[00:10:38] Kei: So I started off as just selling their bikes. Like that was really the start. And then after realizing that clients had problems. Going to other mechanic shops. Um, I then started a, uh, kind of a transport service with a concierge service built in. So it was more of like a automotive butler service. So that, so that comes the name Butler Garage.

[00:11:01] Right. I was watching actually, um, Batman at the time. And I saw Alfred. So Alfred’s position was, he did everything for Batman. Like literally he was the, the pilot, he was the butler, he was everything. And his role was the butler for Batman. So that’s why I thought like, why isn’t there someone who does that?

[00:11:23] For people who have like these kind of vehicles? Someone who does everything, like may it be like tax, renewal, transport or servicing. So, so that role kind of started where I would take my clients’ spikes to different shops or dealerships, drop it off, talk to the mechanics in Thai, like translate from the English to the Thai, exactly what was needed because, um.

[00:11:47] Also like Google Translate doesn’t do a good job of translating exactly what mechanical terms you need on on a bike. And knowing both languages, being bilingual, it definitely helped. So I would communicate to mechanics, Hey, I would need an oil change. I need this, this, this, this done, and this is how the client is feeling on the bike.

[00:12:04] Is there anything you can do to make it better? And then after the service, I would just drop off the bike back and then just take care of that. And then I started. Facing problems of the timeline. So the mechanics would tell me seven days and I would tell the client seven days and then it would end up taking 30 days.

[00:12:22] And then I would tell the clients, Hey, it would take 30 days. And my client would be like, Hey man, I booked a trip. Um, I needed the bike, like worst case, like 10 in 10 days. But if you had let me know, like I would’ve. Booked my trip later or whatever, like they needed the bike to go on like a little road trip.

[00:12:38] ’cause this was during COVID, right? Everyone was bored and everyone was like going on road trip or, or going to the racetrack. I was then the cultural translator as we call it. I translated the Thai time to the western time or I, I’d say the world’s. Standard time of business. So tie time, seven days means around at least 20 days, 14 to 20 days.

[00:13:01] So I tell the client, okay, the mechanic told me seven days, and I’d say, okay, it would take around 30 days to get it done. But if I got it done in 10 days, that was good on me and that was good on the mechanic and the client’s happy, but I don’t provide them with a false sense of expectation. And then the second thing that made me start to work on the bikes myself and work on the bikes with my own team was mechanics or the dealerships or the small workshops that I would take it to, not taking accountability.

[00:13:28] For their mistakes. For me, like no one’s perfect. We’re human. We’ll all make mistakes. Part of servicing and taking care of everyone, the flaw is the human. You can make a system as perfect as you want, but if it involves a human, it becomes imperfect. So that was the issue. I said, okay, it’s okay if you mess up.

[00:13:47] But can you help me fix it so that it, it works. Like you might have installed something wrong, but the time mechanics would be like, no, no, I don’t have time for this. I’m too busy. Or like, no, I already did it. It it’s the parts problem, or it’s the user error. Whereas then I’m like, Hey, I don’t think that’s the case.

[00:14:03] I took a bike out five minutes ago, like, and it broke. Like there’s no way you would’ve. Broken down like within five minutes. So then that’s why I had to start a workshop and then I’d work on it myself and see if it actually would break within five minutes. And that way I know true to myself that hey, maybe it was an install problem or maybe it was a part problem.

[00:14:23] Then I can tell them, uh, that the client that, Hey, there’s an issue. I’ll take care. So it’s the accountability.

[00:14:29] Scott: Yeah. I think a lot of us are familiar with tie time and it takes a little while to adjust to that. Mm-hmm. But to just like you said, I would prefer that there’s actually a conversion where someone is giving me a guarantee Yeah.

[00:14:39] Than for me to do, do that adjustment myself. Yeah. Because sometimes tie time is tie time, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes like, but if, but the fact that you’re just saying it can be done in 30 days.

[00:14:47] Kei: Yeah.

[00:14:47] It’s

[00:14:47] Scott: actually a lot easier.

[00:14:48] Kei: Yeah. Without that false sense of. Expectation, at least, you know, like what you’re gonna get.

[00:14:53] Like at least you know, you can plan your life around that timeline. Like if you give a timeline that you can’t deliver, it just makes everyone, like everyone’s life more difficult. So that’s what I learned through just being in different cultures, you know, like being in like a Western culture. Style working with Westerners or being in that school.

[00:15:15] It definitely helped me to understand,

[00:15:18] Scott: you know what’s interesting, uh, I won’t speak negative about some other companies, but I just, uh, I was talking with, uh, someone who has a Mercedes in Thailand and he was explaining about his trip to the dealership and he was explaining about all the frustrations he had.

[00:15:33] And I think at first glance, you gotta think, okay, there’s tie time and there’s, there’s issues that can happen. Of course, if you’re dealing with these high-end companies or higher end companies or dealerships, you expect they’re gonna be way up there.

[00:15:47] Kei: Yeah.

[00:15:47] Scott: But in this case, uh, it, it hasn’t been the case.

[00:15:51] Right. Yeah. And I’m sure there are again, great dealerships out there, but like, why is that, like, why is that, that in Thailand, even the high-end companies still don’t do some of the things that you just mentioned?

[00:16:02] Kei: It’s also like tongues down to the labor and the mindset of the people providing the service, the sense of ownership.

[00:16:11] The good shops that are out there usually are owner operated. They, the owner is the one working on the vehicles. The owner’s, the one baking the cake. The owner’s the one cooking the the food. The owner is the one who’s there taking care of it. Unless you’re in a company that is like so corporate. That like all the system is bulletproof, then you have those issues of not getting the service that you go in for or not getting the expectations that you, you are looking for.

[00:16:41] So I think like in, in the, especially the time mentality, the sense of ownership is not. As much there. And with me, with my staff, I try to give them as much ownership as possible. The ownership that I give is commission-based jobs and also, uh, profit sharing from the company’s profit. So the more mistakes you make, the less money we make.

[00:17:03] The less money we make, the less money you make. When I hurt, they hurt, and they, they can see that every month on how we’re hurting, and that can give them a percent of, you know. This is my business as well. I need to take care of it

[00:17:16] Scott: now I’m curious then when you’re mentioning this profit sharing, uh, another thing I’ve seen in Thailand has been when the company gets hurt, then the employee gets hurt instantly.

[00:17:26] So an example being you’re late, I’m gonna deduct, uh, a certain amount for your paycheck, or you broke that thing, great. I’m not gonna pay you next month ’cause you owe me for that. So I’m just kind of curious, you mentioned the. Carrot side of it, which is, uh, the increased profit incentive. Yeah. But my question is how do you handle the situations where someone’s a bit late to something or, or whatever?

[00:17:46] Are you starting to deduct pay? Are you, if they drop a bike in their repairs, are you saying you’re not getting paid next month? Or how do you deal with the negative side?

[00:17:54] Kei: Well, like, like with the. Late deductions. I do do late deductions. I deduct like one bot per minute for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes, I deduct a hundred bot, like if it’s like, uh, 30 minutes to an hour, it’s a hundred bot instantly.

[00:18:10] Then after an hour. I deduct the whole day, but I don’t expect them to come to work. So like, you can go home, but I’ll deduct you the whole day’s wage. Like let’s say your day’s wage is 500 bucks or a thousand bucks, that gets deducted from your pay, but you take the day off like you’re, you’re sent home, and then the next day you come, there’s a writeup.

[00:18:28] And then after three write ups, then it’s usually like termination, but at the same time there’s some leniency. Maybe the kid their, their kid is sick, or maybe their mother is sick or they have some personal issues. As long as they let me know beforehand, then it’s fine because I’m trying to ingrain in them the accountability.

[00:18:45] Responsibility of the task at hand. So it’s like you can be late, it’s fine, but you need to inform other people, your teammates, that you’re gonna be late. So stuff can be done when you’re not there and they know not to wait for you.

[00:18:57] Scott: Yeah, I think that’s so important too. And the coddling sometimes that can happen is if you overprotect your staff and you make excuses for them or they’re late and then you say, no, no, no problem.

[00:19:07] Yeah, and I assume that there’s a downside to that as well.

[00:19:10] Kei: There. I, I mean, I used to do that, definitely. And they just take advantage of it, and I mean, it’s like a. Give and take as well. Like you can’t just start deducting everything and, but as well, you have to give them like a win-win situation. Like, yes, I deduct pay, but my overtime is their day’s wage, even if it’s only an hour, or even if it’s two hours, they get their day’s wage.

[00:19:35] So there’s. I take, but I give and I make sure what I give is always more than what I take with, with my staff, at least to make sure that I create a win-win situation for them so that they feel that they’re not being taken advantage of, like. I’ve worked at companies where I feel like, hey, this is not fair.

[00:19:54] Like I’m a minute late, but you’re deducting me for an hour. Like this doesn’t make sense and I’m still working that that hour, so I might as well just leave. But then if I leave, then you’re saying that you’re gonna fire me. So it is kind of hard being a small business owner. You have to. Have some leniency, but you can’t be so lenient that your employees are walking all over you.

[00:20:15] Scott: That brings up another topic, which you mentioned your age.

[00:20:19] Kei: Yeah.

[00:20:19] Scott: Uh, you said 26, right?

[00:20:20] Kei: Yeah.

[00:20:21] Scott: You know, I have some gray hairs. I’m a bit older than you, right? Yeah. But I still think that there’s this feeling of. If you’re not in your fifties or sixties or whatever, then people might not respect you as much.

[00:20:31] Think that you have as much experience take you as seriously. Yeah. And I’m just curious, do you ever experience that being a young business owner and I, I think probably having staff that are probably substantially older than you in some cases. So is there any age issue at all?

[00:20:45] Kei: For sure. Like my first battle wasn’t even with the staff, it was with the clients.

[00:20:50] You know, like when I first started, my biggest hurdle to jump through was. If you’re so young, I’m giving you such an expensive bike, what’s gonna happen if you cause an accident? What’s gonna happen if I give you this bike? That sense of trust took me so long to build that trust. Number two, if my staff, for example, my, my oldest staff is 46.

[00:21:11] Mm-hmm. Right? So like he’s 20 years older than me. Like to have that respect from him, I have to give him that respect. I respect that he’s older. I respect that he’s better than me at certain things, and he also respects it. I’m better than him at certain things. And during the work hours from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM I’m his boss.

[00:21:30] He respects that I ask him what needs to be done within reason. If I’m giving him stupid orders, he will also give me the wr, you know, like he’s like, this doesn’t make any sense. And I think being a leader, the most important part is when you’re not making sense or your act, your actions or your requests actually doesn’t make sense.

[00:21:48] The important part is to take a step back and actually realize and admit to it. And be like, Hey, okay, I messed up. This is not the right way. What do you think is the best way? I always ask my employees and give them that opportunity to give me feedback. That is a way of giving them respect. And then I earn that respect back.

[00:22:07] Um, but then after 7:00 PM he’s older than me, I, I give him the why, like the Thai, Thai culture. He’s older than me. I give him respect outside of work. I’m not your boss. You know, I have to give that respect because of that Thai and Asian culture that, that you respect the, the people who are older. So during work hours, I’m his boss.

[00:22:25] You know, like I tell him what to do after hours, he can tell me what to do.

[00:22:29] Scott: I was gonna say, who’s the one that has to buy the drinks? Who’s the one that has to pick up the drinks after hours?

[00:22:33] Kei: I’ll always treat my employees at the end of the day, like I make more than them. And I’m in that, um, unfortunately in that position too.

[00:22:39] So I’m happy to always take care of them. Because they’re like part of family,

[00:22:44] Scott: the clients that you serve. I mean, walking around here, I noticed it’s very well set up. It doesn’t really seem like a tie garage to me. Right. Yeah. And so I’m curious, do you service a lot of ties? Uh, do you service mostly expats?

[00:22:55] What’s the ratio that you would say to the customers?

[00:22:57] Kei: I feel like 95% is expats, and maybe the 5% are ties by, by ties, I mean maybe they have a Thai citizenship. But they’re not actually like Thai, so they’re like expats that now have Thai citizenships? Well, maybe like a few. I get Thai walk-ins from time to time, but most of the time they aren’t coming here for a service.

[00:23:23] Yeah, just because like the, the pricing, we are more expensive than a dealership. We are more expensive than any other motorbike garage in Thailand. The next thing is we don’t advertise in Thai. Everything is in English, so we’re not. Trying to target the Thai clients to begin with.

[00:23:41] Scott: I think that’s interesting too, that like, as you said, you’re not the cheapest.

[00:23:45] Place out there, I guess you don’t aim to be right. But then at the same time, I, I just think you noticed that the sign on your door, that was something like if you have a, um, a repair or whatever, over 5,000 bot, then it’s free pickup.

[00:23:55] Kei: Yep.

[00:23:56] Scott: So we’re not talking about extreme numbers. You’re not basically saying, I’m, I’m 10 times more expensive than the every

[00:24:00] Kei: maybe 30% at most more expensive than like the other dealerships.

[00:24:06] Scott: And I would look at it more as some things aren’t even apples to apples, like as in. A lot of shops wouldn’t do the pickups, right. Essentially, you’re offering a, a, a service that isn’t even available elsewhere.

[00:24:15] Kei: So the pickup normally for another shop to do it round trip would be 3000 bot.

[00:24:20] Scott: Mm.

[00:24:21] Kei: I, although I charge 30% more on a 5,000 bot bill, 3000 of five, that’s more than, you know, the, the 30%.

[00:24:29] So at the end of the day, I’m more expensive, but I’m also giving more. And then if you look at it in a way. Of a different mindset, not the time mindset when they’re looking in every single detail, but you’re looking at overall picture. I am cheaper.

[00:24:42] Scott: And another thing, this is just something that I’ve experienced.

[00:24:44] ’cause I’ve, I’ve been pretty, uh, fortunate in Thailand and, and when you, you know, get older and you have kids and, you know, convenience is quite important.

[00:24:53] Kei: Yeah, for sure.

[00:24:53] Scott: And, and so as you said, maybe if you look line by line. If there’s something that’s more expensive, but yeah, honestly, my time’s expensive too.

[00:25:01] Yeah. And so we have to be careful with that.

[00:25:02] Kei: And like the people who I focus on servicing are people who value their time. They don’t value the 500 bot or 1000 bot difference in the bill, but they value commuting all the way here an hour. Waiting for two, three hours for the bikes to be done and commuting back for another hour.

[00:25:19] Then they’ve wasted their whole day just to get an oil change when someone can pick it up whenever they want, that’s convenient for them. Have it done here and then brought back whenever that’s convenient for them for less than like 5K even. Yeah.

[00:25:32] Scott: Yeah. It’s a no brainer. It’s a no brainer. Now, uh, on the entrepreneurial side of things.

[00:25:37] Something that I found also very interesting about your story is you mentioned almost how you stip started a light version of this business when you were acting as almost that translator or you know, tie time converter and you were connecting people right to the shops and you were helping in those situations.

[00:25:53] But then I want you to talk me through that transition to where you said, alright, I’m actually gonna like. Get some, get, get the land, build the shop. Uh, I know you said you had some help from, uh, from an investor at or a business partner, but how was that for you? I mean, when did you decide that you’re gonna go from something that’s a relatively low overhead?

[00:26:13] Situation where everything’s just, you know, the cream on the top to saying I’m actually now going to have costs

[00:26:20] Kei: Yeah.

[00:26:20] Scott: That I have to overcome each month. And I assume the costs are not super cheap.

[00:26:23] Kei: Yeah. Like our operating costs, you’re looking around like close to half a million bot a month, um, in like fixed costs.

[00:26:31] And then you have like your variable costs, which are more, but the, the breaking point was. The fact that for one, working out of townhouse, we were space limited. And also the optics, it did not look professional. We could not, we could not provide the service that we wanted in the way we wanted my clients to come here and have that experience where, come here, there’s that sense of trust, there’s that sense of like professionalism.

[00:26:56] So we needed that space. That was the, the reason to move for one. And number two, having all the mechanics. I was tired of having to control other people’s work when I wasn’t allowed to control it. I couldn’t control how a dealership does something because they have their own way to do it. I’m just a customer, right?

[00:27:14] I’m just a kid bringing the bike. I’m just that 22-year-old bringing the bike at that time. By having my own mechanics, I could be like, I want this done exactly the way that the service manual is done. I want this done the exact way that I think this is. This needs to be done.

[00:27:28] Scott: Mm-hmm.

[00:27:29] Kei: I can control that and I can control.

[00:27:32] The outcome of, of the service, or I can control how the client feels. Rather than just being the connector, rather than just being the middleman I can control. It is more of a control like situation of trying to make sure everything is run as smoothly as possible and that way to keep as much money in as possible.

[00:27:52] But the reason is so that we can take more accountability with the work. If there is an issue of the service, we warranty our work, we can take care of it. If you had a bad service, like I wouldn’t charge you money at all. Like I would actually like. Absorb the cost just to make sure that the client has a good experience.

[00:28:10] And I, I never wanna charge someone for something that they did not have a good experience with. ’cause I feel like that’s not the right way.

[00:28:17] Scott: That’s definitely unique. I, I can’t think of a time where here, other than maybe in a hotel, like a fancy hotel, they’ll do that sort of thing and they’ll say You had a bad experience, you know, the night’s on us or whatever.

[00:28:26] Right? Yeah. Um, but in most other cases, you, you, you, you pay what it says on the bill.

[00:28:30] Kei: Right? Yeah.

[00:28:31] Scott: So that’s definitely unique. Um, now having said that, let’s say that. There are mistakes and mistakes happen, you know, how do you deal with those? Like, I assume that there were costly mistakes.

[00:28:41] Kei: Yeah.

[00:28:41] Scott: I assume that when you first started out, um, they’re just big costs that you maybe didn’t anticipate.

[00:28:47] Yeah. So how did that look like? Did you have any big. Costly issues in the early days. Um, and then how do you feel today? Like, did, are you profitable today, if you don’t mind me asking?

[00:28:58] Kei: Yeah, yeah. Like for sure, like there are like costs, like costly mistakes for sure. Um, my biggest, costly mistake was when I broke one of my clients, um, basically it’s called an ECU.

[00:29:09] It’s basically the computer for the vehicle. And this was a really expensive part. It was like, I don’t remember exactly, but I, I lost 40 K on the, on the job, like 40,000 bought. This was back when my fixed cost to running the business was 30 KA month, you know, so I lost like the months, basically operated costs.

[00:29:30] So that’s insane for a small business, but I had to just eat it. And, and take the cost because I could have just said, Hey, man, like your thing broke out of nowhere. But in reality, I knew it was kind of my fault because I, I washed the bike and I did not know that it could not get wet in this certain spot.

[00:29:49] And for me, the money was important, but my reputation as a startup was more important. So I had to make sure that, uh, that client, when the bike left, he was happy and it was working. And even if I had to. Have this piece of metal that is worth 40 k to me that, uh, made me no money, but it, it is a good way to like learn as well.

[00:30:14] And now I know that that specific model, that specific bike, you cannot do this. And I’ve had a lot of those mistakes along the way, messing up with. Stuff on, on bikes, but for me, what mattered most was learning from it and taking care of it, making note of it and making sure that the client is happy at the end of it and he doesn’t have to pay for my mistakes.

[00:30:35] That was the most important part, for sure.

[00:30:38] Scott: Now, how long again have you, uh, been in business then?

[00:30:41] Kei: I’ve been in business since 2020, so we’re now going into our sixth year, so we just finished off our, like fifth year last year. Throughout. The business. I’ve only started to become profitable since around start of 20 20, 20, 20, 24.

[00:30:57] So it’s only been like two full years of where it’s like there’s profit where I’m not forking out my own money out of my own pockets. Yeah.

[00:31:07] Scott: So how do you persevere through that? Because I think, uh, again, I know people know that starting up a business has costs, but at the same time you’d hope that it doesn’t take so many years.

[00:31:15] And so do you have any tips for individuals like that? Probably are gonna be taking those risks. Um, you know, how did you stick with it through difficult years to make it to, to that six

[00:31:26] Kei: year more? For sure. It was really difficult and like the fact that like my parents didn’t support me because they did not, um, value what I was doing in a way.

[00:31:37] Because like, especially my mom, she was like, you should have finished university. And like, I, I hadn’t. Spoken to my dad for maybe 10 years at the point when I started the business. So not having family support, not having something to fall back on was very difficult. But I then just took odd jobs, you know, like I was a personal assistant for one of my clients for almost a year and a half where I got paid like 50 KA month, you know?

[00:32:05] So I was taking care of stuff for him, and then I. Then would do like other jobs, like connecting my clients with each other and getting a kickback. Let’s say my client was looking even like small stuff. My client is looking for an apartment. I have a client who owns that apartment who is renting out. I would rent out the apartment and take the, like the agent fee, you know, like 50 K, 70 K, 80 k, whatever, and that would, you know, be put into my emergency savings and that would pay for the garage in case it didn’t make rent that month, or in case I couldn’t.

[00:32:37] Pay for someone that month, you know, like, just do anything I could like, but the main thing that like helped me was making sure that I could connect my clients with their business together and getting kickbacks. And that’s what is still helping me till this day. And that’s what is like my, my bread and butter till this day.

[00:32:54] Like, but my funniest story, I, I didn’t think I mentioned this to you yet, but like there was one day in around 2022. Um, I didn’t have enough money to pay my staff. I had 500 USD in a, in a crypto account, and I had, I was short around 2000 USD and I spent it. I, I said to my staff, Hey, look man, I don’t have enough money.

[00:33:20] What should I do? He’s like, you should try to gamble it. And then I’m not promoting gambling by any means, but that was. And that’s an example of what I had to go through. And that was all I had in my, in my bank account. All, everything combined, just to make sure that I could go, go to the next month. I put it in, um, baot and I was just playing and I, I built it up to 1700, so I was still $300 short.

[00:33:47] I withdrew everything. And then I told my landlord, uh, be a few days late on their rent to, to, to make rent.

[00:33:55] Scott: See, that’s crazy because it comes back to something that seems to be common amongst a lot of entrepreneurs. Is that the lack of risk aversion, I mean, the fact that that’s, that’s a feeling that you just described of being short on being able to pay your staff.

[00:34:10] That’s stress right there,

[00:34:11] Kei: right? Yeah, for sure.

[00:34:12] Scott: And so you made it into the red and then maybe threw a bit of luck. Yeah. You made your way out, right?

[00:34:16] Kei: For sure. I could have lost the $500 and that would’ve been worse because that $500 was the, the, the staff’s, uh, salary because I paid him biweekly. So that was his salary and that was the guy that said, Hey man, just, just was his tryer luck.

[00:34:30] Right. And he’s still with me until this day.

[00:34:32] Scott: Something I like about that too is the transparency though, right? Because, uh, something you mentioned me off camera too, was. You mentioned that you sometimes take these fees of like the facilitation fees or the, uh, you know, whatever, but I understand you’re very transparent with that.

[00:34:45] Yeah. So in this case, you weren’t doing that on the side over here without telling him he was actually supportive of that?

[00:34:50] Kei: No, he was the one placing the bets with me.

[00:34:53] Scott: Yeah. So it sounds like quite Detroit transparent and, uh, and, and you’re not like hiding things from people. No. It’s just, um, well, since you mentioned, um, your staff, staffing is one of those difficult things, um, processes is one of those difficult things.

[00:35:06] Yeah. I’m curious if you have any. Tips or things that you helped you think helped you succeed when it comes to making sure that you can maintain good quality control? Because as you just mentioned, your reputation is everything. Yeah. Right. You mentioned that your clients really depend on this shop to get good quality work out the door.

[00:35:22] Kei: Yeah.

[00:35:22] Scott: But then I assume that’s easier said than done.

[00:35:25] Kei: Yeah.

[00:35:25] Scott: How do you go about doing that?

[00:35:26] Kei: Like, I’m not gonna say I’m perfect or I’m not gonna say like, I achieved that. Perfection yet. But my way of doing that is I have the staff crosscheck each other and have like a systems of operation, which I have to thank my fiance for, who, who helped me, um, go through the systems of operations of what is the day-to-day task of each employee and also.

[00:35:50] From entering the shop to leaving the shop, what needs to be checked on the bike. Um, and I also have them take photos of the bike before the work is started and after the work is started and during the work is started. So like that way I have photos to crosscheck with each other and the mechanics.

[00:36:08] They’ll go through the photos or I can go through the photos. Even my clients will go through the photos because I’ll send them to them and then they’ll be like, Hey, maybe I need to do this or I need to do that. And then it helps in in every way. And I think clients, they don’t mind it because most of these guys are enthusiasts and maybe they.

[00:36:25] I’m not saying like I’m perfect. I know some clients who’s have been writing for 40, 50 years, like they’re old dues and they know way more than me and they’re like, Hey man, like maybe you need this, you need that. And I’ll be like, okay, I’ll, I’ll have a check. And I’m like, okay, you’re right. I’ll, I’ll take care of it right away.

[00:36:40] So that definitely helps. Also, taking photos and then sharing it between each other, between the staff, me and the different mechanics to make sure we cross check each other. And also having the clients being nice enough to be like, Hey, this needs to be done. But before that even happens, most of the time we, we, we check, like 99% of the time we see something wrong.

[00:37:02] And worst case, if something happens, we’re more than happy to pick up the bike, take care of it, and bring it back on the same day. What about staffing

[00:37:11] Scott: though, right? So it’s great that you have these systems and I, I love the idea of the, the photos. ’cause to your point, that gives transparency to your clients and you know what’s going on.

[00:37:19] Um, that’s checked for the staff ’cause they have to maybe take this the, but, but what about getting the staff? Do you have any issues there at all?

[00:37:25] Kei: Getting the staff is definitely difficult. Um, I work with laborers, right? Like even a mechanic. It’s like you have. Different tiers of people. Like we were working with blue collar dudes.

[00:37:36] Like these guys are not the most, I wouldn’t say like the most intelligent, but the most, they weren’t the best in school. No. They, they weren’t, they weren’t the kind of guys who would, you know, do as they were told. So, and these kind of guys, like I have staff that like, you know, used to be like in prison.

[00:37:59] For example, and they work for me and I don’t mind that whatever they did in the past is the past, but like if you’re working with me, it starts fresh. Giving those guys an opportunity and making sure that they have that sense of like perseverance and integrity of their work and they’re proud of their work is the most important thing.

[00:38:18] Finding staff. It is a challenge on its own. Like I even have to give them commission, like my, my, my staff. I’m like, if you know someone, I’ll give you commission. If you bring them to an interview, you get this much. If they end up staying for a year, you get this much. You know, it’s like I have to do that.

[00:38:35] And. For me, the way I find staff is through online channels. That’s the first one, like any other business would. And also word of mouth. Word of mouth is the most important thing in finding labor staff. It’s not like finding an HR or finding an accountant. Like you can literally post that online and there’s certain qualifications.

[00:38:53] As a mechanic in Thailand, the only qualification you get is if you went to like mechanical school, but. Not all those mechanics wanna work in a shop, they wanna work in a dealership. So finding good mechanics is definitely difficult.

[00:39:07] Scott: Yeah, and I, I like the thing that you pointed out that these, these are individuals that are working with their hands and I guess the problem solving skills and things like that is a little bit less credentials.

[00:39:15] Kei: Yeah.

[00:39:15] Scott: Right. And so it’s their abilities. I, I assume. Yeah. But then it’s also, you know, knowing that you can trust them

[00:39:21] Kei: Yeah.

[00:39:21] Scott: And knowing that they’re gonna show up one time. I mean, all these stars need to almost align to be able to get the right

[00:39:25] Yeah.

[00:39:26] Scott: Person, right.

[00:39:26] Kei: Yeah. It’s, it’s definitely difficult. I’ve, I’ve had staff like, come two, three hours late, not show up, and then like, I’ve had a time where I’m supposed to get on a flight and the staff’s not showing up.

[00:39:39] And I get off the flight, like, leave the airport to go pick up a bike because I can’t ruin my reputation over a staff. Right. I’ve already made the appointment. I’ve already moved it once. I can’t move it again just because this dude doesn’t wanna show up. And I’ve had times where like I’ve had staff show up drunk or high, and I had to send them home.

[00:39:59] You know, like there’s it, it’s that sense. In like this kind of world where you’re working, which is the most difficult thing, and that’s why I have this service, so that you as a client, you don’t have to go to some dude in the middle of your soy down the street. Hey man, I need this done on my 1 million bot bike.

[00:40:19] You know, like you can come to me and I’m the one who’s a middleman to take care of all the headache that you just saw, like the staff getting drunk or whatever. The one who’s taking accountability and staff’s not showing up to pick up your bike. It’s okay, I’ll jump off my plane and then go pick up a bike and make sure it’s still all done on time.

[00:40:36] That’s the kind of thing I end up having to do on a daily basis with being a business owner in Thailand.

[00:40:43] Scott: Yeah, I, I think it’s funny too, because it’s worth paying extra for the accountability in my opinion, but it’s also that it just doesn’t seem to be an option. Like I think a lot of people are willing to, uh, pay whatever it takes, if there’s someone.

[00:40:57] We’ll take accountability and Yeah, so often there’s literally no one raising their hand to say, I’ll take accountability.

[00:41:02] Kei: Yeah. Yep. Accountability and responsibility is definitely something that is, I wouldn’t say lacking, but definitely something that is not present as much in the tie working environment.

[00:41:16] I don’t know as much as in other countries. I’m sure there are similar problems everywhere. But from working in Thailand and owning a business in Thailand for almost six years now, like that is the mo one of the most difficult thing. I’m sure. Like someone will say, oh, I have a really good staff. Like he comes on time, does this.

[00:41:36] It’s like, great, you have like once in a lifetime diamond in the rough. Please take good care of him because if he leaves you like it would be almost impossible to find that staff ever again. Some people say, oh, you don’t take good care of your staff. You don’t, um, pay them enough. I pay them double of what a dealership pays them, you know?

[00:41:56] So pay is not the issue here. It’s also like, and like, you don’t take care staff. We go to buffets like once a week. I mean, not once a week, once a month, but I have beer budgets for them. Like I have alcohol budget, like, you know, like there’s stuff like that for the staff. They get profit sharing. So like, it’s not that I’m not taking care of them, but it’s, I think it’s.

[00:42:16] That sense of, uh, the kind of people I’m trying to work with, their background also affects the result of the work and the way they’re raised as well.

[00:42:25] Scott: Right. And that I guess, plays to the point of why it’s so important that you have a good company culture because you can probably, as long as you get a lot of good staff around that, then you kind of create your own culture that you’re building up.

[00:42:35] Yeah. And you can hold onto those people longer.

[00:42:37] Kei: Yeah.

[00:42:37] Scott: You can have, as you mentioned, get referrals from people that they know. ’cause it’s really hard to find those people. So you have to find. Friends that they know.

[00:42:43] Kei: Yeah.

[00:42:43] Scott: They’re similar to.

[00:42:44] Kei: Yeah.

[00:42:45] Scott: Um, so it’s interesting, you’re almost kind of creating your own form of gravity to try to pull in the right people.

[00:42:49] Kei: Yeah.

[00:42:50] Scott: Because it’s hard,

[00:42:51] Kei: right? It’s very hard. It’s very hard to get people, like, you just have to stop trying to hire the best person. I feel like the best person isn’t the problem. Like you just hire someone who’s willing to learn, who has that sense of grit. You know, like you can grill them. They’ll still stay when hard times come, they’re still there.

[00:43:13] That, to me, is more important than the smartest person that can do this task. So good, so quick. I don’t care because I know eventually they’re gonna leave when it gets difficult. But that person that stays when it’s. Tough and difficult. That’s the most important.

[00:43:27] Scott: Now I wanna get to the good times because I think that since you started the shop, it sounds like you’ve been involved in pretty cool projects.

[00:43:35] So I’m kind of curious, number one, if any interesting projects come to mind. ’cause I was watching one of your videos, I think you had something about creating go-karts and you, you know, adding this engine to this. Like you’ve gotta be doing some really cool stuff.

[00:43:47] Kei: Yeah.

[00:43:47] Scott: And I also want you to touch on the Dumb Ball 3000, right?

[00:43:50] Yeah. Because that, that’s an incredible story.

[00:43:52] Kei: So we’ve had like, like last year alone, we’ve had. I think two really cool, I’d say peak events in my, in my life regarding the business. The first one was, um, gumball. We went to Europe for the second time. We did like, kind of took care of the gumball people, like the participants.

[00:44:09] Um, so we had a van, um, brought from end Dora to Turkey. And drove from Turkey all the way to ibi. A I flew with my media staff and one of my clients and his, uh, buddy who owned the van to basically transport all the luggage for all these clients who were in all these, uh, expensive supercars, and they didn’t have enough space to, to put their luggage in.

[00:44:31] So we were just transporting luggage, doing media for them and taking care of their cars when they broke down. So I was doing that, and that all started out of luck as well with my client from the year before where I asked. Them if I could go watch. And by watching, I ended up taking care of the guys by arranging a police escort by arranging like mechanical service and by arranging like tow trucks and all that stuff.

[00:44:55] And I was charging them $3,000 per car. And then this year we were doing it for five, five KA car. But the money aside, like it was the experience and being able to connect to all those clients, getting to be around people who are so successful in the business as well because. Just to join the event. It’s 120,000 US dollars per car, plus all expenses paid.

[00:45:16] You’re around 300 K out just for a seven day road trip. That was one thing. Second thing was, uh, we had a world champion from a endurance world champion coming to ride our bike. He raced in the last two races. Of the, uh, Thailand Super Bike series. Uh, this was one of his trophies. He got third place. That was amazing as well because like everyone was like, how do you get him?

[00:45:38] Like, how much do you pay? And it was just really interesting, like to do that all from like, just messaging someone on the Instagram like, Hey man, you free. Like, do you wanna come ride in Thailand? We spend vacation. We’ll take care of everything for you. It’s just, I feel like doing business and doing stuff in life, it’s just taking that chance.

[00:45:58] I go to sleep every day knowing that I have no regrets. I, I took all my chances. I, I tried everything. Like I will try everything. Noah is fine because the worst case is other people’s best case scenario. That’s my mentality going into things.

[00:46:12] Scott: That’s incredible. I’m curious then, what’s the future, uh, for you, for the company?

[00:46:17] What’s, what’s coming up in the next few years for you?

[00:46:19] Kei: We’re planning on opening, um, a shop in, well, we not, we’re not planning, but we’re in the process of opening a shop in Malta. Um, we’re doing, uh, car body works and we’re making super cars with one of my clients that I met during a gumball and he’s now a close friend of mine.

[00:46:36] And then we’re opening an office in Japan to organize like, uh, racing parts. So we order parts from Japan to Thailand. This is. More for our clients here to expedite the parts process of waiting for parts from the dealers. In Thailand, that takes 14 days, 15 days, so we can do it in three days. So we cut that down by a large margin.

[00:46:57] But even though the parts are slightly more expensive, we’re saving them like two weeks.

[00:47:01] Scott: That’s huge. Um, now. Yeah. What about advice that you can share? Now? I’m kind of curious of positioning this. You said that you haven’t had any regrets, right? But is there any advice that you’d give to your, let’s say, 20-year-old self?

[00:47:15] Kei: The biggest advice I would give to my 20-year-old self would be to not rush things. I feel like every time I achieve something, I’d be like, okay. Onto the next thing and not enjoying the process of it. Because through everything, every achievement, the most fun I’ve had isn’t obtaining that goal, or isn’t finishing the project or isn’t getting that, that bike or car.

[00:47:43] But it’s the process or the journey that I had to go through to get to that point in my life. You know, enjoying the process and having more gratitude for everything that is, uh, achieved. Uh, throughout the journey because when you’re not like, grateful for all the stuff that, that you get, you become unhappy.

[00:48:06] And that’s what I, I, I saw in myself a few years ago, I felt like, oh, I don’t have this, but this guy has this, this guy’s 26 and you know, with all the social media, right? This guy’s 26, he’s in the Lamborghini, he retired his family, he’s selling courses, whatever. But being realistic, being grateful for what you have achieved.

[00:48:25] And trying to look back as well, learning to look back. What would I feel if I knew I would be in this spot if I, when I was 20 years old, trying to think back all the time, being grateful for what I have every day. That’s the most important advice that I can give to anyone is try to be grateful of what you have achieved and try not to dismiss it.

[00:48:48] You know, some people will be like, oh, I haven’t done much in my life. I’m 26, and look at this 26-year-old, or look at this. 25-year-old, like, don’t compare yourself to others. That’s like the, the biggest thief of joy. Right. Comparison. That’s, uh, the best thing that I can give.

[00:49:03] Scott: Absolutely. Now what about, um, and we’re gonna wind this down shortly, but what mistake do you think a lot of business owners in Thailand, and maybe let’s aim towards like the expat business owners primarily.

[00:49:15] What’s one of those big, biggest mistakes that they make that you think, uh. You’ve been able to solve and how you go about doing that.

[00:49:22] Kei: There’s many aspects that we can go so deep into it, but the biggest thing that I find is in Thailand, doing the right thing is not always the right way. You know, coming from a Western mindset, let’s say if you’re from Germany or, or Japan for example, they’re used to doing everything by the book.

[00:49:42] You know, you’re used to no compromise. You’re used to, it’s done this way or no way. In Thailand. You have to learn to be Saba. In Thailand, you have to learn that this is the land of compromise. You know, you have to understand that not everything is done this exact way. You have to always find a solution to the problem.

[00:50:04] It, may it be like finding 10 solutions to one problem, just as a backup, because you never know if that solution will actually work or not. And the biggest thing for me is asking for forgiveness, then asking for permission. That’s the biggest thing in Thailand. You want to start something you’re not sure if you can do it, do it first.

[00:50:24] And if it’s a really big problem. You’ll actually have to solve it later on and you can just ask for forgiveness in Thailand or else you just won’t start and it’ll take forever for you to start something, you know? So that’s the biggest thing. That’s great advice. My last thing is, is there anything that, uh, we didn’t talk about that you wish we had?

[00:50:44] Probably like cultural background and also like how it felt like growing up in Thailand as a kid who. Was from two different cultures and also growing up in an international school where you felt like you didn’t belong, you know, that I think was really a good topic too, as well. Yeah.

[00:51:05] Scott: Yeah. So to dig deeper into that, I understand that you had the two cultural backgrounds, right?

[00:51:10] And your mother, your mother and your father. Uh, your mother being Thai. Yeah. And your father being Japanese. Then there’s also just the private school, uh, sort of background too is, it’s just so interesting because. Uh, I think there’s a lot of the high so class, right?

[00:51:24] Kei: Yeah.

[00:51:25] Scott: But, but it sounds like you really didn’t come from that money, so what was that like for you growing up?

[00:51:28] Kei: Well, growing up we went to an international school beyond our means. My dad take, would take out loans to pay for the tuition. It was a really expensive school. Um, and we had to make sacrifices, right? Uh, selling our house to pay for the tuition. And I would question my parents as a kid, like, Hey, we are quite well off.

[00:51:48] Like if we went to a normal school, why are we stretching the budget? You know, as a kid, like, it was always money talks every night, every day, every morning going to meet up with friends and they’re like, Hey, you want to go do this on the weekend? And you’re like, no, I, I can’t. And you don’t wanna say I can’t ’cause my family’s poor.

[00:52:06] Right. You’re like, oh, I can’t, I’m, I’m busy. But knowing that you can’t, because when they go out, even though it’s 500 bought, 800, bought a thousand bucks, like you couldn’t afford it. So you would just have to go home. Even going to school, taking more by a taxi, sometimes not having enough money. To go on the motorbike taxi, so you’d have to like owe the motorbike taxi money and walk back or, or find some coins, whatever.

[00:52:30] At school, there’s a lot of coins because you’re around a bunch of rich kids. That’s a nice part and they drop a lot of money, so you have money for your motorbike. Taxi back. That was one thing. And also like the second thing was. Being too cultural like from two cultures, but not having a sense of belonging.

[00:52:45] Right. Because going to an American school, I was always around Americans, right? But I’m not American. I’m half Thai, half Japanese. I hang out with Thai friends. I’m not Thai because I can’t write Thai, and I don’t really have a Thai like background. Go to the Japanese kids. You’re a Ga Jin. Because you’re a Ja, you’re not fully Japanese and you’re not raised Japanese.

[00:53:09] So I’m not Thai, I’m not Japanese, I’m not American. But I feel at home when I speak English. My, my fiance’s American, and going back to going back to visit her family, I’m kinda like, oh, this is nice. Even though like, you know, keeping politics aside, like it’s not as nice, but I, I feel at home when I go back to the US like, because everyone’s speaking the same language and there’s more sense of acceptance.

[00:53:34] Scott: So then how, if you were to try to self-identify and say like, how much of you is Japanese? How much of you is Thai, how much of you is American? Like, what would you give those percentages?

[00:53:44] Kei: I’d say my laziness is Thai, finding shortcuts, you know, that’s Thai of me, so Thai of me, my, um, like detail, like eye to detail and trying to make sure everything’s like done super perfect.

[00:53:56] That’s, um, Japanese of me. Um, and like trying to keep everything as clean as possible. That’s really Japanese of me. And then for me, like the American, or like more like the Western culture of me is like kind of more accepting of like, um, of different cultures because like, I wouldn’t say I’m American, but more like Western, going to international school you learn except all the different cultures around you.

[00:54:23] And just accepting and, and understanding the different cultural aspects. I don’t know. With the American one, it’s a bit more difficult, I’d say. It’s just more the language. And also watching movies. Yeah.

[00:54:36] Scott: Yeah. We do have the best movies. Um,

[00:54:37] Kei: yeah.

[00:54:38] Scott: So with that, uh, I’d love for you to share what the best way is for people to get in touch with you or to find the shop.

[00:54:46] Um, kinda share the best way.

[00:54:47] Kei: So the best way would be through, uh, WhatsApp, uh, or Facebook, uh, facebook.com/butler garage or through our Instagram, uh, butler dot garage. So you can contact through our social medias or our website, butlergarage.com. Um, and you can just message us there. And I’m always open to chat with all my clients.

[00:55:08] I treat everyone as like a family and friends.

[00:55:11] Scott: Yeah, absolutely. And I, I guess another thing. Make sure you, you get in there. Is that individuals that go to the racetrack a lot, right? Yeah. Do you have any options for them? Because I, I know, like we talked about, there’s some great race track race tracks here.

[00:55:22] Kei: Yeah. So, so we organize, um, racetrack rentals for our race bikes. So we have race bikes to rent, um, set up. By like a racing team. And we also have clients if you wanna build your own race bike, and you can keep it for storage here, you can buy a bike and we can build it as a race bike. We can help you race if you wanna start your racing journey.

[00:55:43] And also if you need coaching, we can bring you world champions to come and coach you. Uh, that’s also an opportunity. And also even if you wanna go race in Europe or ride in Europe, we can organize track days there as well as we have, as we have like, uh, partners in different countries. Yeah.

[00:55:57] Scott: Awesome. Well, Kei, thank you so much for joining me.

[00:56:00] It’s an awesome conversation. I highly recommend anyone who’s in the area, anyone who has a motorcycle looking to buy a motorcycle and needs some advice from someone, uh, you know, obviously Kei is your guy. So thank

[00:56:09] Kei: you very much, Scott. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. You as well. Thanks. Thank you.

[00:56:14] Cheers. Cheers.