Why The Opti-Coat Podcast Is So Important

Have you ever wondered “how on earth did I get to where I am?”

Hi, my name is Jacob Hemenway and I constantly am asking myself that question. I am 50% of the hosts of The Opti-Coat Podcast and it has been an absolute blast from the start. I may not be able to answer exactly how you have gotten to where you are, but I can start by sharing how the podcast came to be.

The Opti-Coat Podcast

I became an authorized installer for Opti-Coat in the fall of 2024. It was the same year that I went full-time with my detailing business in Iowa. I had started detailing when I was 18 and over the years on and off I would detail on the side, mainly using whatever tools I had at my disposal. In 2024, I really buckled down and got caught up to speed on current technologies, tools, products, and techniques (which felt like a journey at the speed of Mach 5). This led me straight to Opti-Coat for products like MDR and Ferrex and it wasn’t long before 95+% of my products had either the OPT or Opti-Coat logo on them – not because of brand loyalty, but because of eco-friendliness, effectiveness, efficiency, and consistency. I was hooked!

A large benefit of becoming an Opti-Coat installer is the access to staff and fellow Authorized and Certified Opti-Coat installers, mainly via the Facebook group. As I continued to fine tune my process and pricing, many installers would freely offer their experience and expertise in helping installers like myself get their feet underneath them. I was and am still so appreciative of the community creating the culture of Opti-Coat nationally and internationally.

If not more importantly than the products and the installers is the founder, Dr. G. Seeing a business built on the values of helping detailers and installers succeed in their careers and developing products with their health in mind is truly a remarkable foundation and is worth being highlighted and commended.

These are the main reasons I reached out with the idea of starting a podcast:
First, people need to see what amazing things are happening, and have been happening, in the detailing world as a result of this Memphis-based company continuing to accelerate into the future with novelty products for essentially each and every detailing application.

Second, it is possible to have a highly-profitable detailing business and a highly-supportive network of experienced and educated detailers who will high-five you and offer their two cents along the way. They each have amazing stories of how they got to where they are and those stories deserve to be shared.

So, I reached out to Don with the idea. He responded with “Tug wants to do a podcast too.”

Who’s Tug?

Tug Bankert is the other 50% of the hosts of the podcast. Tug runs his shop in Pennsylvania and we co-host the episodes. We met only a week before recording our first episode via Google Meet and now I believe there hasn’t been a day since then that we haven’t corresponded through messaging.

We have already had quite an all-star line-up on the podcast. Authorized/Certified installers, regional distributors, industry friends, and the like.

Here’s what we get out of an episode: I like to ask guests to share their story – how did they get into the detailing world and how has Opti-Coat impacted their career in a positive way? This always leads to fun stories about humble beginnings and products and tools the guests used to get off of the ground and ends with testimonies of how Opti-Coat has had such a tremendous impact on their lives.

Tug does a great job of following up with technical questions and asks for really helpful and needed business and industry strategies and advice. That right there usually takes us to the hour mark, which the aim of our conversations as our guests’ schedule allows.
Personally, this podcast has had a huge and positive impact on the way I think about detailing, the industry, and what’s truly important to focus on. And if I’m having a rough week in the shop I’m encouraged to dive deeper and believe for bigger things.

Communally, this is such a great picture we’re starting to see illuminated. Maybe you feel like a lone wolf, trying to figure out all of the answers on your own. The good news is that you aren’t alone, and you don’t have to figure it all out. You can accelerate your success by linking arms with the incredible detailers you are already surrounded with and move toward together.

And who am I, anyways? To many of you, I’m green. I’m a newbie. Yet still I have the great opportunity of sharing what I do possess – the desire to have stories shared and people encouraged. And how did I get to where I am? I’m just grateful and wanting to do what I can to give back to this great group that has given me so much.

Maybe you feel like you have nothing to share. Let this be an encouragement to you: You do have something to share, and as an installer for this great company, we’d love to have you on The Opti-Coat Podcast to share it.

Written By Jacob Hemenway

Jacob Hemenway is an Opti-Coat Authorized Installer, Co-Host of The Opti-Coat Podcast and Owner of Hemenway Detailing in Bettendorf, IA.