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Aug 5 •
👋 Welcome to The Metal Polishing Academy
Glad you're here! Whether you're picking up metal polishing as a side hustle or trying to build it into a full-time trade, this group is built to get you from "rough surface" to "mirror finish" without wasting time or money learning the hard way. Here's how to get the most out of this community. ✅ Your Start Here Path 1. Introduce yourself: in the Introductions category (see prompts below) this helps us point you toward the right content for where you're at. 2. Watch your first lesson: head to the Classroom and start with 1.1 Welcome & How This Academy Works, followed immediately by 1.2 Safety & Setup. Before touching a buffer or grinder, you need PPE, workspace setup, and machine handling down. This is the foundation everything else builds on. 3. Finish Course 1: (Foundations) Grit basics and reading your metal (aluminum, stainless, chrome, brass) round out what you need before any hands-on work. 4. Move into Course 2: (Sanding Mastery) This surprises people, but sanding technique is the single biggest lever for making your polishing faster and easier. Most of what separates an average finish from a true mirror happens before you ever pick up a buffing wheel. 5. Progress to Course 3: (Polishing & Compounds) Cutting compounds, coloring rouges, and wheel types, matched to the metal you're working on. 6. Work through Course 4: (Metal-Specific Playbooks) For step-by-step technique on wheels, tanks, exhaust, and chrome (acid washing is in here too, marked advanced/optional… no rush to get there). 7. Post your first project: in Before/After Showcase once you've got something to share. Even a small win counts, and it's the best way to get feedback from the group. 8. When you're ready to turn this into income: Course 5: Running the Business covers pricing, finding customers, building a portfolio, and scaling. 🙋 How to Introduce Yourself Drop a post in Introductions with: · What metal(s) you work with most (aluminum, stainless, chrome, etc.) · Your current skill level (brand new, self-taught, working pro)
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17d •
Utilizing this one tool will save you Time and Money!!
@Clark Norway came to me with some questions Thursday about a set of wheels he was uncertain about. With in a 2 minute conversation we were able to troubleshoot and come up with the most efficient path for him to go forward with. This one tool will save you Tens of thousands of dollars and countless hours of time. I wish it was available to me when I was in my beginning stages. Just reach out. This is what this community is about. Helping each other get one step further together. Everyone with a Premium Membership gets to reach out for a 1 on 1 call to troubleshoot your current problem. Utilize it. Bring your questions to Thursday's live call!
3d •
We're back🔥but first, a word about the holiday we just took off.
Hope everyone got some rest (or got paid, I saw a few of you posting jobs over the weekend 👀). Before we jump back into the regular rotation, it's worth knowing what Labor Day actually is because it has everything to do with what we do in this community. A little history. Labor Day was born in the 1880s, pushed by the labor unions of the day. The Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor held the first parade in New York City on September 5, 1882. Around 10,000 workers marched, unpaid, just to make the point that the people who actually build, forge, and finish things deserved recognition. Back then, the average worker was pulling 12-hour days, 7 days a week. Including kids in mills and factories. The unions fought for the 8-hour day, safer conditions, and fair pay. A lot of them were metalworkers, machinists, and tradesmen. Guys like us. It became a federal holiday in 1894, signed by President Grover Cleveland right after the Pullman railroad strike, a moment when the country was forced to reckon with how it treated the people doing the work. Why I'm telling you this? Those workers marched because skilled labor was being paid a fraction of what it was worth. Sound familiar? Every time you quote $200 for a job worth $800, you're doing to yourself what those factory owners did to workers 140 years ago. The lesson of Labor Day isn't "take a Monday off." It's know the value of your work and don't let anyone, including yourself, discount it. Nobody's going to march for your prices. That part's on you. That's half of what this community exists for. So here's the comeback question.... What did you do this Labor Day weekend? Rest, family, or did you polish something? And if you worked, did you charge holiday-weekend rates? 👇 Regular schedule is back. Let's have a big week. 💪
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6d •
That job from yesterday? It went for $500. Here's why.
Most people priced that job between $500 and $1000. That gap right there is the difference between a polisher who's booked out and one who's broke with a full schedule. The number wasn't about the polish. It was about who was buying and what it was worth to THEM. 3 things that let you charge the top of that range: 1. Price the outcome, not your hours. A trucking company isn't buying "6 hours of polishing." They're buying a rig that looks new at every customer site. That's marketing spend for them and marketing budgets are bigger than cleaning budgets. 2. Never give a number on the spot. "Let me look it over and get you a proper quote today" instantly makes you the professional in a market full of guys who blurt out $150. 3. Anchor high with a package. Quote the full package first (polish + sealant + maintenance plan), then let them trim down. They feel in control; you never get squeezed below your floor. This is exactly the kind of thing we go deep on every Friday. Comment "CALC" if you want the pricing formula I use to quote any job in under 5 minutes, if enough of you want it, I'll break it down next week. 👇
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I don't just teach you to polish metal! I teach you to build a $10k/month polishing business!
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