We recently connected with Justin Morrison and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Justin, thanks for joining us today. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?

This is one of those questions that I revisit often when I’m alone in a mental retreat. I also discuss this with my wife regularly. My profession before owning my business was extremely gratifying. I was given opportunities to make significant impacts in people’s lives through professional training and coaching. I worked with companies ranging in size to help their teams work together smarter and optimize their performance. My co-workers and I used to joke about how we were part trainers, coaches, and therapists. One of my beliefs about teams in general is that they are a direct reflection of their leadership. This is in no way my own idea, I just subscribed to it the more I observed how teams perform in professional settings.
Much of my time was spent traveling throughout the US and Canada working with leaders. These could be managers, team leads, or even owners; sometimes the owner was the entire team. I would sit with some of these folks and listen to their struggles and successes at work and in their personal lives. Some of it got deep, I don’t know where their comfort level came from in some of these situations. It was always cool to me to listen to someone talk about this or that from their personal life and how that thing might be affecting their ability to perform professionally. From a leader’s perspective, this is vital. If a leader doesn’t “show up”, then their team will likely follow suit. This therapist part of my role led me down interesting paths where I might be sitting in someone’s home observing how they interact with their loved ones or discussing how PTSD affects them in circumstances they can’t avoid in their work. Of course, I had my failures, but the wins were plentiful, and the gratification of watching someone turn their home life around and nail it at work or another person shaking hands with an adversary in the office; it was those moments that filled my cup. I felt like I was making a difference in my corner of the world.
When I think about what that was like vs what it’s like to own my own business, I’m more often conflicted than not. Like, I really loved my job.
On its face, my company has nothing to do with the line of work I was a part of previously. I own a mobile detailing and tint business. We’ve positioned ourselves as an upscale service provider to clients looking for the absolute best in convenience, service, and guarantees. So, yeah, I mean there’s a bunch of fulfillment in being among the best in town, helping clients solve problems. It’s just wildly different.
So, why did I leave my regular job to do this?
Chasing dreams, YOLO, I’m not getting younger (I turn 40 this year – yikes!); take your pick. A key takeaway from many of the books, podcasts, and quips I’ve consumed over the years is that happiness begins with taking control of the things we can control. As rewarding as my corporate career was, I knew I had more in me. Whether those were “thoughts of grandeur” or not is TBD. I actually believe entrepreneurs need to house a little crazy upstairs, it’s part of the recipe as far as I can surmise. To achieve the “more in me” I needed to remove ceilings and barriers. I needed to spread my wings. Should I have done this earlier than 35, yes. However, the reasoning behind that is its own story that I’d be happy to share in a more relevant capacity. Another idea I’ve subscribed to is that it’s never too late, so I’m good with the timeline. Not to mention, our journeys are what they are. I left corporate as a way of “ripping the bandaid off”. I realized I wouldn’t likely reach my full potential if I didn’t put myself on a path toward it.
One of the things I say when people ask about my passion or purpose, is that I believe people living their fullest potential is our shared purpose as a human team.
My time spent as a trainer and coach gave me the skills and confidence to ultimately leave that role. It was the vehicle that led me to my business. Rad Wash & Tint is the vehicle that will lead us to the next vehicle, and so on. This endeavor is like solving a blank jigsaw puzzle. The term “visionary” feels overused and self-indulgent, but it is accurate to say that it requires the ability to “see” the spaces between the spaces when determining how to position this vehicle to meet the next vehicle at the right place and right time. It’s not always comfortable and easy. To the contrary, a bunch of days are really hard. We’ve essentially bootstrapped this thing. We’ve spent more time, money, and effort to make this happen than what is comfortable. We’ve laughed but boy, have we cried. We’ve had to say no to fun things. I say “we” because although my wife, Becky, and our five children don’t officially operate inside the business, they allow me to do so. Their support is truly a gift. They, along with the small team of folks who help day to day, are in this vehicle as I barrel it down the road toward our combined purpose.
So, am I happier as a business owner?
Yes!
Every day I get to wake up and place the next piece of the puzzle. Every day I get to share my small act of creation, bringing my vision into focus for as many interested people, to see clearly. Owning my business allows me the necessary space and freedom to truly think, create, and do the things that will change the stars for my family, and hopefully many others.

Justin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m laughing inside right now because I recently recorded a podcast episode during which I explained how the question that gives me the most amount of anxiety is “Can you tell us about yourself”. I’m not a linear thinker, so trying to pinpoint a starting point to work forward from is stressful for me. To that end, I’ll just start from the beginning – ha!
I’m a Midwest kid, born and raised in Omaha, NE. For those unaware, that is about as center as you can get on the US map. My grandpa and uncles raced cars when I was younger so we spent a ton of time at various tracks around all kinds of cars. I fell in love with these machines early. The smells, the sounds, the heat, the speed, I loved all of it! I sort of always assumed I’d be a racecar driver someday. Although I’m not a racecar driver, my wife did knock the experience off my bucket list one year when she drove me a few hours from home so that I could whip a few solo laps in a retired NASCAR on a professional track.
Life took me down different paths is all.
I became a parent at 17. Many of the assumptions like racing cars had to be set aside in the face of doing the right things at that time. Being a teen parent has this way of pushing a person into adulthood quickly – too quickly. I had no idea what to do, but I did have the intuition that I needed to grind to provide for this tiny human. Exactly no part of that was easy. In fact, that time in life was riddled with trauma. Those challenges strengthened me though. I don’t want to mislead anyone here, I made a whole bunch of mistakes, but I did learn work ethic and how to survive really hard things. That, in addition to the adversity of growing up in a very low socio-economic and crime-ridden environment, cemented this resolve in me, which I believe is required for entrepreneurship. Particularly the self-made variety. While I believe this type of resolve is required, I also believe it (the resolve) can be taught through healthier, controlled adversity. A person doesn’t need to grow up poor, witness someone get shot, or become a teen parent to learn how to successfully navigate rough waters.
I mention this early stuff to explain how I learned to use these tough experiences as fuel to become more than those experiences. As a young adult, I decided to pursue something great and be great at it. I had no clue what that thing would be, but I knew it was there and that I could have it. I’d be remissed if I didn’t mention my mom’s part in instilling this belief in me. She always reminded us that we are more than our circumstances might dictate. She pleasantly forced us, my siblings and I, to believe that we can do or be exactly what we want if we work at it. In retrospect as a parent, that must have been extremely difficult to communicate while barely making ends meet, raising three children, finishing a degree, and navigating a drug-addicted husband.
I got a paper route, like we did in the 90’s, and never really quit working. I loved the idea of trading time and effort for money. With successive jobs, I fell in love with the idea of excelling in my roles. No matter if I was stocking shelves, running food, or coaching teams, I was going to be among the best at it. Typically this meant more money or higher rank, but more than those things, it meant people would accept me as more than a poor, unfortunate teen parent. Therapy and mentorship would eventually help me have a healthier relationship with this idea, but it did serve me well for a long time.
One of the things I wanted to accomplish the most through my work was to demonstrate from real experience that we, people, are full of untapped potential. Much of my favorite philosophical teachings dictate that we’ll never reach our fullest potential.
Hold my beer, am I right!?
Joking aside, this is the journey that aligns so well with being an entrepreneur. Work toward perfection, and full potential, with the understanding that joy is in the pursuit.
This brief story about me defines more the “why” behind how I got here in that it illustrates what I meant in the previous answer about changing the stars for my family. To this point, my children have not been subjected to the types of challenges that I was. No pats on the back for me, there are so many supporters in our lives who have helped make that possible. I would simply like to move the needle much further so that their experience, as they transition to teens and adults, might be much less fraught with difficulty; to the extent that I can control these things.
I could have stayed on the “conventional” corporate path, stacked a decent retirement package, and left them with a respectable bag. Why be conventional though? Nothing about my life journey has been conventional!
Many stories of business success start with finding something you love, something you’re good at, then get really good at it, find a purpose in it, and sell it. I love cars, I love helping people love cars, I love being of service, and I love the opportunity to make a real difference in someone’s life.
Mobile detailing is a great starting point. Cool but how the heck am I going to do this and what on earth are we going to call it? I am a 90’s kid as mentioned previously. If you didn’t experience the 90s/early 2000s as they happened, let me tell you, it was a time of wild styles, bright colors, and the last moments when humans were still disconnected from mobile phones and the internet. We snuck out at night to hang out in person. We piled into one car and cruised the streets. We used the car wash as a hangout. We couldn’t wait to get a driver’s license! We asked each other out in person! That time represents a connected experience; not the type of connection we have now via 5g and wifi, no that time was face-to-face, mano-y-mano, belly laughing, simply living life in the here and now – together. If I was going to set out to build a car-centric company then it had to be an ode to that time. As my wife and I sat on our couch brainstorming ideas that evening, she said “What about the name Rad Wash”? I’m like “Done, perfect”! Then she immediately created the logo we have today. I bought a van the following week and the rest is history.
After about two years into the business, I decided to leave my full-time position to focus entirely on the business. This was 2021. We added automotive and architectural tint to our menu of services that year as well.
One of the things I’m most proud of is our decision to do this for our family. As I talked about in the previous section, this journey has seen its challenges and will see many more, but when our children ask questions about the business or ask if they can come out and help for extra summer cash, it fills my heart with joy. They don’t have to just read about the tales of people chasing dreams, they get to see it happening first-hand. They get to be part of it.
This is one of the reasons I like the nature of small business – the kids being able to come out and help sometimes. Not only is there this esoteric sense of passing along life lessons in pursuing dreams, but they also get to learn applicable skills that will help in their own pursuits. As a parent this is amazing.
Rad Wash & Tint was founded on the belief that people are happiest when they’re connected. Our vehicles are a means to connect us. When vehicles look, feel, and smell their best we’re happier to utilize them. Our homes and businesses are the places we park our vehicles when we connect. When these places look great and are comfortable, safe, and private when needed, it makes our connection more gratifying. So yeah, through cleaning and window film, Rad Wash & Tint can accomplish these solutions for people in our community, and beyond one day, who are willing to give this determined, poor, teen parent a shot at making the world a more rad place to call home.
I believe we are solving a connection problem in a real and human way from a unique perspective.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

“‘Cause it’s a bitter-sweet symphony that’s life Trying to make ends meet, you’re a slave to money then you die”

As a 90’s kid, it’s hard not to use cheesy 90’s references, ha! Seriously though, I grew up in an environment where it was possible that we might not have a Christmas – on one occasion we didn’t. “Wondering why Christmas missed us”. I spent a lot of my free time reading and learning from the encyclopedia set we had on our bookcase. We had two sets. It was somewhat fun to compare the two when I was really trying to dig in on a particular subject. I understood that when compared to the starving kids around the world I read about, we were more fortunate than a bunch of people. Growing up “poor” didn’t bother me much. Of course, I wanted all the things, the big house, unlimited snacks, and all the other things a kid wants. I did have the encyclopedias, a dictionary, and a few great friends. I was pretty happy in that regard.
However, I vowed to myself then that I would not die poor. I wanted to be rich so that I didn’t have to want for those things. As I got older, my desire to be rich became about my children. I wanted to be rich so that they would never have to face the challenges of being poor.
On paper, I’m still not rich. For most of my adult life, it really has been trying to make ends meet. I have been a slave to the idea of money and I’m not getting younger.
In recent years, I’ve had to refocus my perspective on what I believe about money and what it means in my life. This is important because it helps me more clearly set waypoints in my business and my life. Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve used to be my #1 favorite song of all time. In addition to the blend of classical and modern instrumentals, the lyrics always felt so accurate. That line – “Trying to make ends meet, you’re a slave to money then you die” resonated with my pursuit of happiness and success. It was a way for me to recognize the game of it all. Sometime about two years ago, while listening to this song, that all changed for me, though. I decided I no longer agree with it! I probably listened a handful more times before I decided to let it go as a favorite. I don’t know if everyone feels this way upon realizations like this, but it was a bit of a shock to me. I held to this perspective for so long, which is super cynical by the way, that when I was ready to adjust it rocked me a little.
As an entrepreneur, I learned to understand that money is a tool, not just something we trade for things indefinitely until the money or the things are gone. It’s sort of still that, but as a tool, from this perspective, money is a thing that helps me create opportunity. Whether I’m creating an employment opportunity for someone, a new product or service, or more access for my children, it is my relationship and stewardship with money that allows these things to happen. Money is not everything, but money is an important thing on the list of everything.
I have come to believe that being a slave to money is incorrect. If anything, it should be the other way around, although it feels weird to suggest enslaving anything, ha. I mean to say that instead of working for money, it would be all around healthier to have money work for us. This isn’t novel, obviously. Maybe I came to it a bit late. When you grow up poor, or with a negative relationship with money, you tend to develop a negative mindset around it. A lot of times, and was true in my case, you want to get as much as possible so that you can spend as much as possible. Not for the sake of spending, but for the sake of acquiring and doing all the things – before the money runs out. This mindset created a lot of pivot moments in my life.
Heck yes, I want to add as much to our bag as I possibly can before I die. My reasoning is just far different and not as cynical as it once was. Lots of money is only one KPI in assessing richness. I have really big ideas, and out-of-this-world aspirations that I recognize I might not get to work on in my time here. If I’m able to, through my journey now, provide a pathway and the resources for future people to work on those ideas or ideas of their own in the freest way possible, then I have accomplished my goals. Leaving this life with or without money will be of no matter to me as long as I’ve been able to provide this pathway.
TLDR: I had to unlearn this life lesson that being poor is this terrible fate and that lots of money and things are the most important endeavors. I believe the most important thing is for humans to become better humans. The resources I’m able to acquire and then provide, I hope, will allow for others to do their part in making humanity better.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

A company I worked for did yearly assessments, like most corporations do for their employees. This particular year, if I remember correctly, they introduced a new way of doing these. I dove right in and gave a ton of thought to some of the more philosophical questions. I can’t remember the question exactly but something like; “If you were going to leave our company what might be the reason”? Again, I don’t know word for word my answer, but it went something like “I love my job, yada, yada, and there would only be one of two reasons I might leave; if I’m given some entrepreneurial opportunity, or if the company shifts away from operating within the set of values in which it operates currently”. About a year after that, I was fired! Not to worry, it was a misunderstanding and I ultimately went back into an even better role. The important part is that during the hiatus, Rad Wash & Tint was born and released into the wild.
About a year and a half later; 2020, into 2021, is when I started to recognize a shift in how we were making decisions as an organization. Now, from practical business perspectives, many of these decisions made a bunch of sense. I have never run a large organization, let alone through a worldwide pandemic, so I understood that there must have been difficulty in making big decisions. However, that value set I mentioned earlier, was and still is very important to me. It serves as this code of ethics when considering the people/human outcome of the decisions we make. I respect the company and the leadership there, so I’ll remain as ambiguous as I can, but suffice it to say that I found myself making calls and visiting clients with somewhat shady motives – not of my own. Things were just starting to feel like we were operating adjacent to our values instead of standing firmly in them, trusting that the right things are the right things. I knew it was time to discuss my answer from a few years ago. In July of ’21, I sat down with my boss and let him know that I was ready to move on from the company.
This single pivot represents so much in my life. I had a very complicated childhood, became a teen parent, married three times, and had tons of small pivots throughout my life. This one though, this one changed me. We can pivot a bunch, but it usually doesn’t change us fundamentally the way this pivot did. I was standing up for what I believed, I was giving a finger to the man in a real way, and I was claiming back my own pursuit, my business. I lost my salary, and my retirement, and cashed in every small investment account I had. I lost my free time. I lost my ability to shrug off anxiety – being an entrepreneur is stressful. None of this sounds better than going into the office or flying across the country for 3 days to visit a client. However, all of it sounds better when considering that I didn’t have to feel as though I was being led to operate outside of the core values that I hold true inside myself and now my own business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.radwash.com, www.radtint.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rad.wash/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/radwashsocial
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rad-wash
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFzDpy5x_n_47WOT4paFyRg

Image Credits
Becky Erin Photography