Grease, Grit, and $365 Million: The Story of Pay ‘n’ Spray
On April 27, 2024, I opened the doors to a tiny, zero-star mechanic shop called Pay ‘n’ Spray
I barely had any business courses. Didn’t have either stock block. Didn’t even have a plan, really. I just knew I wanted to run something of my own. I was tired of spending all my time travelling and decided to focus on racing, I thought a mechanic shop would be easy and the perks were perfect.
I thought the hardest part would be finding staff.
It wasn’t.
The hardest part was keeping them.
May 2024
I watched company funds drop faster than I could top them up. I was bleeding 5 to 10 million a week just to keep people from quitting.
On day one, I dropped over $11 million to keep the lights on. A week later, another 10 mil. Another week, 20.
I kept thinking, “Okay, this is the last big deposit.” It never was.
I learned the hard way that nobody wants to work for a company with no stars.
So I paid. And paid. And when they quit anyway, I paid someone else even more.
June – July 2024:
Everything felt like it was breaking. Balancing ad/hiring campaigns with salaries was killing my net worth.
I remember hiring one guy in June who stayed just long enough to grab his first paycheck, then ghosted. I fired someone else the same week for logging in once and never touching a tool.
There were nights I sat there staring at the payroll sheet, wondering how the hell I was still in business.
I considered buying a donator pack just to stop the bleeding.
I didn’t. But the thought was real.
Then on July 16, I made a quiet little $5M deposit at lunchtime. I’d just finished my bachelor’s in business and told myself, “This is the one that turns the tide.”
It wasn’t.
But it was the first time I felt like maybe the worst was behind me.
I was wrong.
August 2024:
I stopped thinking short-term. Stopped chasing resumes. Started thinking like a mechanic — not a CEO.
I looked for workers who didn’t just want cash. I wanted the ones who wanted stars, promotions, and something to be proud of.
Slowly, the core team started to form.
Still, I burned another 16 mil mid-August. Payroll never lets you forget who’s in charge.
September – October 2024:
Turnover slowed. The customer base grew. Daily income started to rise.
For the first time since April, I wasn’t bleeding. I was grinding.
On October 16, I dropped another $20M into the company, and for once, it felt strategic — not desperate.
We weren’t coasting, but we weren’t drowning anymore either. The shop was getting noticed.
December 2024:
That was the tipping point.
By mid-December, I was tapped out. No more cash flow.
For the first time, I looked at my items and my stocks and thought:
"I don’t know if I can make it."
Then Christmas Town rolled in. I went all in — scouring the dump for Duke’s golden items, cashing in every bit of energy I had, earning myself the dreaded scavenger title.
Somewhere in the madness, I may have made a video of myself on the toilet (as requested by Duke) and earned the coveted Duke Caganeer, which is still in my display case.
I swear I meant to invest the reward into the company.
Either way, I was able to aquire the sales boost stock block, and from that moment on, we didn’t look back. We hit 8★. Then 9★. Promotions came fast. The team showed up. We pushed through the holidays like we had something to prove — and we did.
Jan – Feb 2025:
These were quiet, steady months — but crucial ones.
We reached 9★ on January 19, and it was clear the shop had hit its stride. No more desperate ads, no mass turnover. Training levels rose. Staff actually stayed.
Deposits became smaller and more deliberate. A few hires came and went, but for the most part, the core stayed strong.
It wasn’t flashy. It was just steady progress — the kind that builds empires.
March 2025:
Dropped $30M. Not because I had to. Because I could.
By now, the shop had momentum. We weren’t a quiet little garage anymore. We were a machine.
And I finally started to believe what the numbers were saying: We were on top.
On March 23, 2025, we finally hit 10★.
A few weeks later, without any objections, I stopped paying salaries. The company was no longer costing me anything — not making anything either — but it had become something stable, self-sustaining, and proud.
April – May 2025:
The team was more stable. The balance sheet started turning black. Deposits got smaller and more strategic.
Pay ‘n’ Spray started to feel like a real business.
Today:
Pay ‘n’ Spray is a 10★ shop.
And not just any shop — we’re the #1 mechanic in Torn.
That didn’t happen because I’m some genius. It happened because I was too damn stubborn to quit.
I ended up personally investing $365 million into the company — not in one go, but through dozens of calculated deposits over the span of a year.
Every dollar served a purpose. None of it was wasted. And I’d do it again.
I started with no stock blocks, very little business education, no external funding. Just me, my team, and the patience to stick with it.
The Team
They made it all possible.
I’ve had dozens of staff over the last year — some stuck around, others didn’t — but each one played a part. Today’s crew is sharp, trained, and incredibly consistent. The growth wouldn’t have happened without them.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this climb, it’s this:
If you want it and can afford it, it’s not hard — but like everything in Torn, it takes serious patience.
There’s no shortcut to 10★. No secret playbook. Just time, focus, and the ability to eat shit for 6++ months.
If you’re thinking about starting your own company, don’t wait. Just know it’s going to test you. But if you stick with it — and build smart — you’ll get there.
— Slinkyrabbit
Director of Pay ‘n’ Spray
April 27, 2024 → Today
