Guest: Carter Dircks
Organization: Tucson Mobile Tires
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Category: Mobile tire service / Automotive service business
In this episode, I’m joined by Carter Dircks, the owner of Tucson Mobile Tires, a Tucson-based mobile tire business serving passenger cars, light trucks, trailers, RVs, and specialty vehicles.
Carter breaks down what day-to-day operations look like now that the business is more established—how far out he’s typically booked, how much of the work comes from repeat customers and referrals, and what he’s thinking about as he moves toward expansion.
We also talk about the difference between being “known” and being positioned for the next phase—why reputation gets you through the early stage, and what starts to matter when you want to scale without losing quality control.
Tucson Mobile Tires in Tucson, including what they offer and how they serve the local community.
Therapeutic Ranch for Animals and Kids (TRAK).
Two Lane Tucson series.
Tucson is spread out, schedules are tight, and most people don’t want to lose half a day to a basic errand. A mobile service model can reduce friction when the problem is time, mobility, or coordination—not just the tire itself.
One theme that comes up in service businesses again and again is this: reputation is powerful, but it’s not always predictable. If the next stage requires steadier demand, “being easy to find at the exact moment someone needs you” starts to matter more.
If you’re getting views but inquiries are inconsistent, you usually don’t need more ideas—you need to see where people drop off and what to fix first.
I run a paid Local Visibility Diagnostic that shows exactly what’s limiting calls and booked leads (and what to do next). Delivered asynchronously (Loom + written summary).
Learn more about the Local Visibility Diagnostic
Below is a readable transcript excerpt from the conversation. Minor edits were made for clarity.
Elaine: Today I'm joined by Carter Dircks, the owner of Tucson Mobile Tires. Carter runs a mobile tire business here in Tucson, serving a wide range of vehicles from passenger cars and light trucks to trailers, RVs, and specialty vehicles. His work puts him in close contact with a lot of different types of customers and business owners across the city.
Elaine: So today I want to talk about how the business has grown. What's actually driving demand and what growth looks like at this stage.
Elaine: So, Carter, to start off, how would you describe where your business is right now? Not how it started, but how it operates day to day.
Carter: I would say it's definitely more consistent than the early days. A lot of my customer space is referral, repeat customers, word of mouth. So I do get a lot of return customers such as fleet clients, things like that. Typically I'd say I am booked a couple days ahead usually. Versus the early days it was kind of waiting for a phone call. So that's a nice change.
Elaine: When someone new calls you for the first time, how do they usually say that they found you?
Carter: I actually ask pretty much everybody that as a newer business. Typically it is Google search or referral.
Elaine: A lot of service businesses grow on reputation early. At what point did you realize reputation alone might not be enough to support the next phase?
Carter: I think right now is kind of the phase I'm in right now. Just kind of looking at possible expansion. Up until now, I've been an owner operator. And looking at expansion this year and kind of realizing that there's probably gonna need to be some more advertisement, some cold calls, door knocking, things like that.
Elaine: And so how do you think about marketing or advertising in general? So what's appealed to you and what hasn't?
Carter: I would say my favorite personally is showing up. So whether that be car shows, maybe showing up to grand openings of fellow business owners, things like that. Something where I can actually get in person with the customers and show face and kind of show them my setup. 'Cause a lot of people don't really understand it without seeing it.
Elaine: As the business has grown, what's felt hardest to keep up with? Is it time, staffing, or demand quality or something else?
Carter: Probably doing everything all by myself. So pretty much everything. Mostly getting back to people in a timely manner while still providing top tier customer service and showing up on time.
Elaine: So you work across a lot of different vehicle types—how do you decide what to say yes to and what to not take on?
Carter: Earlier on, I had a little bit more of a focused market for sure. I noticed naturally as time went on that there is a large demand for a lot of other classes of vehicles. And I wanted to be able to serve my whole community. So most of the time I just expand as the need arises and as I see a need to be filled. As far as avoiding—pretty much just things that I personally don't find safe or maybe old tech that I wouldn't wanna put my own family on. I will say no to certain applications.
Elaine: When you hear the phrase more visibility, what does that actually mean to you as a business owner?
Carter: That really to me just sounds more like opportunity to spread outreach and serve the entire community and just kind of get myself out there.
Elaine: And when you look ahead a year or two, what would make you say, yeah, the business is moving in the right direction?
Carter: I would say it is probably a healthy mix of all of those, but largely would probably be scale as well as quality control—providing the best service and avoiding some of the bad reputation the entire industry has in a lot of other places.
Elaine: For someone running a service business in Tucson who's a few years in and trying to grow without burning out, what's one thing you've learned the hard way?
Carter: Probably that I cannot help everyone. Not everybody wants the type of service that I provide. That was the hardest pill for me to swallow 'cause I like to help everyone I can.
Elaine: Carter, thanks for taking the time to walk through this and for sharing how the business actually works behind the scenes. I appreciate you coming on and giving people a real look at what it takes to build and grow a service business here in Tucson.
Carter: Thank you very much for having me.