Big updates & new project!

Howdy good people! 

It's update time, and I have many of them! 

Let's start with probably the biggest one for the channel. I found a video editor! 

His name is Emin, and as luck would have it, he lives literally 5 minutes away from the Dojo. Couldn't be any better.

We did the trial period, edited a couple of videos together, and I showed him how I do things. Thankfully, he's been following the channel for a while so he's familiar with the style of the videos and has picked it up pretty quickly. 
The last 6 videos have been done by him. The way it works, he takes the raw footage, does a rough cut, then a fine cut and sends me the project file. I then do a final cut, go over the entire video, make necessary adjustments and do a voice-over.
This way the editing style essentially remains unchanged from before, and you won't notice that someone else helped me do the video, although he did add a few of his touches here and there, which worked out well.

It's also not possible to have someone do 100% of the video on its own as I still need to do voiceover, decide which are relevant bits that need to stay, make the structure, etc...
But, still, this has shortened my editing time massively and I can finish the video much quicker once he's done his part. He is getting better and better by the video.

He is also helping me film, like when I went to buy Alpina B12, or film the diff overhaul with Florian.  This is another important aspect for me, as in the past, I usually go alone to film this stuff, and it's difficult to concentrate and talk to someone when I also need to hold the camera and film.

For now, I'm paying him per video, but the long-term plan is to hire him full-time. That way he can be 100% focused on this and help me pump out videos even faster. For the time being, I'm very happy with everything and we are moving in the right direction. 

The 2nd big news. You know that Liqui Moly has been supporting the channel since it had 20k subs. I have a great relationship with them, and working with them has really been great.
That said, they didn't pay me to promote their products, but rather sent me their products for free. 

You also know that I'm looking for a new shop as I desperately need more space, and importantly, a place that has heating in winter! It is incredibly difficult to find something in Frankfurt, and when I do find something, I can't afford it. 

This is where Liqui Moly has stepped in. I told them about my issue with finding new space and this year, our relationship is growing. They allocated a budget for me for this year to essentially help me move to a new shop. 

This is a huge and exciting development as it means I can finally expand and move to a new shop. Now, this does mean that LM will get more exposure on the channel, however, I will not do heavy product pushing as I simply hate that and, as I'm sure you know, I don't do typical sponsor spots with random companies. 
LM team fully understands that, and I basically have free hands to do my thing, which is amazing and what makes it great to work with them. 

So, I've been searching like an obsessed lunatic for a new shop these last few months. Despite having a higher budget now, it's damn near impossible to find shop space, let alone something that fits my criteria. 
The current shop has a certain charm to it, and it's only 6 minutes away from my apartment, which is ideal as I'm not wasting time in traffic. Unfortunately, there is no possibility to expand there, and I need to find something else. 

That said, I don't want to move somewhere just for the sake of moving. I will have to compromise on certain things, but the new place has to tick some boxes.
The lack of space is driving me mad, so the hunt for a new shop is my priority right now. With more lifts and storage, I would be able to do so much more. Work on multiple projects as opposed to 1 or 2, and generally get stuff done quicker. 

About a month ago, I found an industrial hall that was suitable. 550 m2, plenty of space, in good condition, good location, the minus was the front yard, which was ugly and shared with another company. But, regardless, gotta compromise somewhere. 

The rental price was really, really good and I was ready to go for it. Unfortunately, there was a real estate agent between me and the owner who, naturally, wanted commission. In Germany, when it comes to commercial properties, the broker can ask whatever commission he wants.

In this case, that commission was 3.5 rents and 3.5 additional costs, which came to 12.750 euro plus 19% tax. For doing basically a 100 euro worth of work. He posted an ad without pictures, spent 10 min with me and the owner, and I had to pony up 13k if I wanted to get the place.
It just didn't sit right with me, and I couldn't understand how someone can make that much money, that quickly for doing pretty much nothing. So I passed.

Some time later, I realized I'm never gonna find a space like this for this price, and long-term, maybe it's worth paying the jackal and getting this place. Unfortunately, it was too late and some other shmuck paid the commission, and the place was gone. So the hunt continues, but that was the closest prospect so far.  

In other news, tomorrow I am flying to the US! First stop is Virginia. I'm going to visit Peter from Partee Racing. We are going to film a very nerdy video about machining AluSil blocks, specifically the S62 engine for project Skovde. 

Gonna spend 2 days here. On Sunday, they are throwing a small get together so if you are in the area, feel free to swing by. Details are on their website. 

Speaking of project Skovde, it's now totally rust-free! Guys from MBL Classics knocked it out of the park. Treated the entire underside, removed all of the rust, protected everything and painted it back to OE. I attached some pics. It's coming back to the Dojo in April once I'm back. 

After Virginia, I am going to Florida. I'm helping a small-time YouTuber named Tavarish finish his E46 M3 project. I met Freddy a while back at the Ring and he's a genuinely great guy. Will be a pretty fun collab and I'm excited to put an E46 M3 back on the road. 

As you can imagine, I can't go to the States and not buy a project. That's just not possible. I'm traveling to Florida again for vacation with my wife in May, and then we are driving up to Pittsburgh for her sister's wedding. 

So a car is needed! The wife wanted a convertible, and I wanted S54 goodness, so I landed on an Imola Red Z4M! Absolutely gorgeous car and I always, ALWAYS wanted a BMW finished in Imola red. And to boot, it even comes with a factory hard top! 

I bought it in Seattle, WA. My good friend and fellow E60 M5 6-speed owner, Petar, helped me buy it. He stored it for a while and then I had it shipped to Freddy's shop in Orlando. Massive thanks to Peter!

It's in overall good shape, needs some things, so I'm gonna be working on not one, but two S54's while in Florida!
I need to prep the Z4M for our trip in May, and I partnered up again with our good friends from BimmerWorld on this project. I'm pretty sure the Z4M will be a keeper and heading to Germany after our trip is over. : D 

On a personal note, I do have some big news there as well. My wife and I are expecting a baby. Kinda unplanned, but it happened. :) She's in her 5th month and so far, everything is great. Vanos is healthy (the name is work in progress) and so is the baby mama. 
Due date is in August, so be prepared for a hiatus once the little human comes. Would appreciate it if you keep a close circle on this for now. : )

Anyway, this update got silly long! But, there's a lot to talk about and I wanted to keep you in the loop. 
Once I'm back, there will be a video on the Z4M, project Skove engine prep work, and one vlogy video for the 2nd channel. E31 is a work in progress and that will come upon my return. 

In the meantime, I prepared one video for the 2nd channel on project X5 that I'll post next week. 

As always, thank you so much for being here and for your support. Love you all! 

EDIT: Thank you all so much for nice wishes. ❤️