Erik Devash.
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Growth, pricing, people, and the decisions that shape a business. Practical lessons you can put to work.

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Window Tint Business 3 min read

Window Film Hall of Fame: My 2026 Induction

Erik Devash’s 2026 Window Film Hall of Fame induction: watch the video, explore the work behind Tint Wiz, and read official WFCT coverage.

Marketing & Sales 10 min read

What to Say When a Customer Says Your Price Is Too High

When a customer tells you your price is too high, what should you say? Here's how I'd handle price objections, when to offer alternatives, and why discounting isn't always the answer.

Marketing & Sales 11 min read

Cost Per Lead vs. Cost Per Customer: What Service Businesses Should Actually Track

Cheap leads don't necessarily mean profitable marketing. Here's how to calculate what you're really paying to acquire a customer, compare lead sources, and know what you can afford to spend.

Window Tint Business 10 min read

How to Price Window Tint Jobs: Labor, Materials, Overhead, and Profit

Pricing a window tint job isn't just square footage or what the shop down the street charges. Here's how to account for film, labor, waste, overhead, and profit so you know what each job needs to earn.

Marketing & Sales 8 min read

How to Calculate Your Estimate Close Rate (and What It's Really Telling You)

Learn how to calculate your estimate close rate, what the number actually tells you, and why a higher close rate is not always better. This article breaks down how to measure sales conversion in a service business and how to tell whether the jobs you're winning are actually worth winning.

Pricing & Profit 9 min read

Still Charging 2015 Prices? Here's What That's Costing Your Business

The cost of running a business keeps rising, but plenty of owners are still charging prices they set years ago. Here's what that does to your profit, why raising prices matters, and the advantage newer businesses have.

Growth & Strategy 5 min read

Speaking at SEMA 2026: Why Some Businesses Win

Why do some businesses continue to stand out in crowded markets? Ahead of my session at SEMA 2026, I’m looking at where real competitive advantage comes from and how business owners can find it in their own company.

Growth & Strategy 4 min read

Why I Made a Business Course for Window Tint, PPF, Detailing, and Other Service Business Owners

Why I created Addition by Subtraction, what it is designed to help with, and when a self-guided business course makes more sense than coaching.

Pricing & Profit 7 min read

How Profitable Is a Window Tint Business? The Numbers That Matter More Than Revenue

A window tint business can generate strong revenue and still not be a great business for the owner. Here are the numbers and questions that give you a clearer picture of profitability.

Marketing & Sales 10 min read

Google My Business Optimization for Window Tint Shops: How to Rank Better and Get More Leads

Most window tint shops treat their Google Business Profile like a listing. Here’s how to optimize the parts that actually help you rank, build trust, and turn more local searches into booked jobs.

Systems & Operations 8 min read

The Five-Star Loop: A Simple System for Scaling a Flat Glass Window Tint Business

A flat glass window tint business becomes scalable when it can consistently turn a lead into a consultation, sale, completed installation, and five-star review without the owner personally rescuing every step.

Growth & Strategy 7 min read

Should You Scale Up, Hold, or Scale Down Your Window Tint Business?

Most window tint business owners talk about scaling up. But the smartest move may be to grow, strengthen what already exists, or deliberately build a smaller, better-fitting company.

Growth & Strategy 6 min read

Scaling a Window Tint Business Does Not Just Mean Growing It

More jobs, employees, and revenue can make a window tint business bigger without making it scalable. Real scale means every part of the company can support the growth.

Marketing & Sales 16 min read

Google Just Put AI Inside Your Business Profile. Window Tint Shops Should Pay Attention.

Google is building AI directly into the tools customers already use to find, compare, and choose local businesses. For window tint shops, this is not about letting AI write generic posts. It is about using AI to clean up your Google Business Profile, understand your reviews, improve your content, and make your shop easier to trust. And no, you are not getting penalized just because you used AI.

Marketing & Sales 14 min read

Your Google Business Profile Is Content, Not Just a Listing

Most tint shops think of Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube as content, but treat Google like a static listing. That is a mistake. Your Google Business Profile is one of the most important content channels your shop has because customers are already comparing you there.

Pricing & Profit 6 min read

The Number a Window Tint Shop Owner Should Know Every Day

A window tint shop owner does not need to stare at a P&L all day, but they should know the daily number: what is booked, what came in, what payroll costs, and whether the week is on track.

Marketing & Sales 8 min read

Google AI Mode Is About to Test Your Service Business

Google AI Mode and AI agents are changing how customers find, compare, and contact service businesses. But the real opportunity is not just buying another AI tool. It is making your offer, website, CRM, follow-up, and sales process clear enough to be found, trusted, and chosen.

Growth & Strategy 5 min read

How to Get the Most Out of WFCT 2026 as a Window Tint Business Owner

Industry events are most valuable if they change how you run the business when you get home. Here’s how I’m thinking about WFCT 2026 in San Antonio.

Growth & Strategy 2 min read

What Deserves Your Focus Right Now?

Every successful shop owner is being pulled in a hundred different directions. At Tinter Battles, we're asking a simple question: what deserves your focus right now?

Marketing & Sales 7 min read

How to Stop Guessing and Find Your Best Lead Sources

Your marketing should not feel like roulette. The businesses that grow are usually not doing more. They are getting better at the few lead sources that consistently bring the right customers.

Marketing & Sales 2 min read

Why “I’ll Send It Later” Is Costing You Sales (Service Business Lesson)

Most companies were saying, “I’ll send it later.” That’s where they lost the job.

Systems & Operations 3 min read

How to Scale a Service Business by Solving Your Biggest Problems First

Learn how to scale a service business by fixing scheduling, improving CRM systems, and increasing speed to lead and quoting.

Growth & Strategy 3 min read

Should I Sell My Service Business? Why I Chose YES

Should you sell your service business or keep scaling it? This explains why I sold mine to focus on software and what service business owners should consider before making that decision.

Growth & Strategy 4 min read

How I Built a Window Tint Business, Sold It, and Turned It Into a CRM

How I built a window tint business, scaled it to $3M, sold it, and created a CRM (Tint Wiz) from the system we used to run it.

Pricing & Profit 4 min read

How to Run a Profitable Service Business in a Small Market

Many service businesses in small markets believe they need to offer more services just to survive. In this clip I explain why reducing overhead and simplifying your business can often be the smarter strategy.

Growth & Strategy 5 min read

Three Simple Rules for Starting a Service Business

Starting a service business doesn’t have to be complicated. In this article, I break down three simple rules that make a new service business far more likely to succeed: keep the business simple, treat customers correctly, and focus on the shortest path to the income you actually need.

Hiring & Team 2 min read

Feel Uncomfortable Asking for a Raise? Start With Clear Communication

Feel uncomfortable asking for a raise even though you want more? Here’s how clear communication and understanding your options can help you move up without resentment or guessing.

Hiring & Team 3 min read

How to Get Promoted at Work by Taking Ownership

Doing your job well is not enough to get promoted. Here’s how taking ownership and solving problems builds leverage and puts you in position for more pay and responsibility.

Hiring & Team 2 min read

Don’t Know If You Should Hire Yet? Start Smaller Than You Think

Not sure if you’re ready to hire full-time? Here’s how starting with part-time help can create space in your small business without taking on big risk.

Hiring & Team 4 min read

Hire Before You Need To: How Hiring Ahead of Growth Scales a Small Business

Most small business owners wait too long to hire. Here’s why hiring before you “need” to can change your growth trajectory.

Hiring & Team 5 min read

How to Know If Someone Is a Good Hire (Before It Costs You Money)

Hiring is always a risk in a small business. Here’s how to know if someone is a good hire by evaluating character, interview behavior, and reputation before it costs you money.

Hiring & Team 3 min read

How to Hire Someone You Don’t Fully Know (Without Ruining the Relationship)

Here’s how I structured a three-year commitment to remove pressure, protect the relationship, and give both sides room to actually perform.

Hiring & Team 3 min read

How to Hire in a Small Industry Without Burning Bridges

Hiring in a small industry is different. When everyone knows everyone, one bad hire can ripple. Here’s how I think about building a team without overcommitting or burning bridges.

Hiring & Team 4 min read

How I Think About Hiring (and the Risk of Getting It Wrong)

Hiring in a small business is always a risk. Here’s how I think about hiring, what I look for beyond resumes, and why knowing when to let someone go is just as important as knowing when to hire.

Systems & Operations 2 min read

Why Owners Get Stuck Doing the Work Instead of Building the Business

Owners often stay busy doing the work because stepping back feels risky. This post breaks down why that pattern stalls growth and what it really takes to build a business that can run without you at the center of everything.

Systems & Operations 3 min read

Keeping Secrets Is a Loser Strategy in Service Businesses

This clip is from a talk I gave in 2017, but the idea has only become more relevant since. In service businesses, keeping information hidden feels protective, but it usually creates friction, inconsistency, and slow execution. Real advantage comes from owning your process, sharing it clearly, and executing it better than anyone else. Secrecy isn’t the moat. Execution is.

Growth & Strategy 3 min read

Why the Next 10 Years Will Reward Well Built Service Businesses

Many service businesses look difficult today because they were built for a different version of the industry. This post explores why well-built operations may be positioned to benefit as service industries mature, consolidate, and reward businesses designed with long-term intention instead of short-term survival.

Systems & Operations 3 min read

Why Two Service Businesses Can Make the Same Money and One Owner Burns Out

Two service businesses can generate the same revenue, yet feel completely different to run. This post breaks down why owner role, leverage, and team structure matter more than top-line numbers, and how growth without change leads to burnout instead of freedom.

Pricing & Profit 2 min read

Pricing for Survival Is Why Businesses Burn Out

Many service businesses stay busy but still burn out. This post breaks down why pricing based on “what you can get” quietly caps profitability, how survival pricing feels logical in the moment, and why sustainable pricing is the difference between staying booked and building a business that lasts.

Growth & Strategy 3 min read

Why Service Businesses Stall Even While They’re Growing

Many service businesses keep growing on paper, but still feel stuck. This post looks at why growth can stall even when revenue is up, how business identity quietly shifts over time, and why progress requires intentional changes instead of repeating what used to work.

Marketing & Sales 2 min read

The Easiest Growth Lever Most Service Businesses Don’t Use

Most service businesses already have a growth lever available to them. It’s free, it doesn’t require more leads, and it doesn’t add complexity. This post breaks down why intentional follow-up, done the right way, often outperforms chasing more volume—and how small shifts in attention can create outsized results.

Marketing & Sales 2 min read

More Leads Isn’t the Lever. Depth Is.

Most service businesses don’t have a lead problem. They have a depth problem. Chasing more calls and quotes often adds noise instead of growth. This post breaks down why going deeper with existing demand usually converts better than adding more at the top of the funnel.

Growth & Strategy 3 min read

Cutting Isn’t the Risk. Not Reinvesting the Time Is.

Many service business owners know they should cut low-margin work, but they don’t feel like they can afford to. This post looks at why cutting isn’t the real risk, and how failing to reinvest the freed-up time is what actually keeps businesses stuck.

Growth & Strategy 3 min read

Having More Options Is the Problem (Not the Advantage)

Many service business owners aren’t stuck because they lack options. They’re stuck because too many options compete for attention, slow decisions, and quietly add complexity.

Growth & Strategy 3 min read

Working More Isn’t a Strategy for Service Business Owners

Many service business owners are working longer hours with the hope that it will pay off someday. This post looks at why that math often doesn’t work, and why cutting can be more powerful than adding.

Growth & Strategy 3 min read

Addition by Subtraction: Why Most Service Businesses Don’t Need More Ideas

When a business wants to grow, the instinct is almost always to add. A new service, a new offer, another tool. This is about why simplification, not expansion, is often what actually creates growth.