YouTube has become a popular place for people who want to learn how to do things like plumbing, carpentry, or auto or small engine repair on their own. But have you ever watched one of these videos about how to do something? Borrrrrr-inggggggg. Tim Gross, a service dealer in Indiana, is putting a unique spin on this, and he’s getting a lot of fans as a result.
Tim runs Tim’s Bonanza Service in Demotte, Indiana, which he owns. After working for 30 years at his brother’s dealership about 50 miles away in Dolton, IL, he opened his own business in 2008.
Tim claims, “I worked for Bill for a very long period, but I lived in Demotte and the daily trip was just too much.” So, Bill helped his brother open a shop in Demotte to fix small engines.
Word of mouth has helped the company develop. Kyle, who is Tim’s son, works for him. Bill hires Tim’s other son, Tim Jr.
What about this guy named Taryl Dactal? At which car lot does he work? He is Tim’s employee. He is, in fact, Tim.
Tim’s alter ego, Taryl, is a little bit crazy, quite funny, and very smart when it comes to fixing small engines. It resembles a cross between Turtle Man and MacGyver and Red Green.
In 2013, Taryl made his own YouTube channel called “Taryl Fixes All.” Both of Taryl’s sons play roles in the videos with her. It all began with a silly hobby that the creative family did together. Tim adds, “We started to wonder why there wasn’t a reality TV show about a shop that fixes little engines, with all the reality TV shows out there.” ” We produced a few “Grass Rats Garage” episodes and uploaded them to YouTube because we believed there needed to be.”
After almost seven years, he now has more than 85,000 subscribers.
Note from the editor: These first few “episodes” are for older people, so be careful and turn down the volume.
How to Find Your Audience
Some people liked the racy episodes of “Grass Rats Garage,” but they didn’t bring in as many viewers as Tim and his sons had hoped. “Then I thought of something,” Tim says. “We should calm down a bit and make some good videos about how to do things. People would be more likely to like and share those.”
Even though his two sons play many different roles, Taryl is still the show’s star. They use a single Panasonic HDC-SD90 HD video camera that they can hold in their hands. Kyle and Tim Jr. then use iMovie, a simple video editing programme from Apple, to change the videos. Tim says that they can usually shoot, edit, and put up a video on YouTube all in one day.
The “Taryl Fixes All” YouTube channel now has about 250 videos. The topics range from “How to set the valves on a riding mower” to “How to do basic chainsaw maintenance.” Most videos have been watched thousands of times, and a few have been seen over 100,000 times. “How to fix a leaking Briggs carburetor” has been watched more than 300,000 times, making it one of the most popular videos so far.
In a time when some videos get a million views, what Taryl and her group have done might not seem like much. But think about it: This is just a guy and his two sons making low-budget videos in their spare time without any marketing behind them. For crying out loud, Briggs & Stratton’s YouTube account only has roughly 10,000 subscribers. The powerful Stihl has about 46,000 employees.
Tim says, “We’re not really using the videos to market our real business.” “All we want to do is have fun and teach people something.” No matter what, the possibility is there. We don’t know if Tim will make a connection between “Taryl Fixes All” and his business, Tim’s Bonanza Service.
Still, some people are beginning to put two and two together. Tim tells his customers about the videos that he and his sons are making.
Tim says, “They’re a lot of fun for our customers.” Also, Dale’s Small Engine, a dealer he knows from Murfreesboro, TN, found “Taryl Fixes All” while looking around on YouTube one day. He called and asked if it was me, says Tim. I informed him that it was, and he replied that he thought we were onto something and really enjoyed the films.
Tim, Kyle, and Tim Jr. know they’re on to something, but they don’t know where it will all lead. Right now, it’s a way to be creative and a great way to get away from the stress of running a small engine repair business every day. Maybe one day they’ll be on a reality show on the Discovery Channel, Spike TV, or any of the other dozens of cable networks that have shows like this.
For now, I’m putting food on the table by fixing small engine-powered tools. “And there’s your dinner,” as Taryl likes to say at the end of every video.