Meet Aaron Burkett of Phoenix E.O.D., LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Burkett.

Hi Aaron, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story is probably a little different from what you’d expect from someone who owns an automotive detailing chemical company.

I’m a United States Army veteran and spent more than two decades working in emergency medical services as an EMT and paramedic. For much of my adult life, my career revolved around helping people through some of the worst moments of their lives. I never imagined I’d eventually find myself manufacturing automotive detailing products.

But life has a funny way of taking you places you never expected.

In 2021, I founded Phoenix E.O.D., which stands for **Evolve Or Die**. That name wasn’t chosen because it sounded cool. It represented something I genuinely believed: life doesn’t always give you a choice about what happens to you, but you do have a choice about how you respond. You either adapt, grow and evolve, or you allow circumstances to define you.

Our company motto, **”Aspire To Evolve,”** grew from that same philosophy.

What began as an idea eventually developed into a full line of automotive detailing chemicals, ceramic coatings and surface protection products. Rather than simply putting our name on someone else’s products, we invested in developing our own formulations and building a manufacturing operation. Today, we manufacture the majority of our chemical product line ourselves, and Phoenix E.O.D. products have found their way into the hands of professional detailers and enthusiasts around the world.

But the journey hasn’t been easy.

Building a small business means making sacrifices that most people never see. There have been financial struggles, setbacks, difficult decisions and plenty of moments when walking away would have been the easier option. In 2026, we relocated our operation from New Jersey to Boardman, Ohio, essentially beginning another chapter in the company’s evolution.

Through all of that, something unexpected happened.

I discovered that what mattered most to me wasn’t necessarily the products we were selling. It was the people we were meeting along the way.

The automotive detailing industry introduced me to an incredible community of people, many of whom have become close friends. Through our podcast, *Phoenix E.O.D. Presents: The Corner Hangout*, we’ve had the opportunity to share their stories, celebrate their accomplishments and have conversations that go far beyond cleaning cars.

And those relationships eventually inspired what I consider one of the most important things I’ve ever been involved in.

**The Soar & Restore Foundation.**

What originally began as Phoenix E.O.D.’s *Rise From The Ashes – Pay It Forward Campaign* grew into something much bigger. We started bringing together people and businesses throughout the detailing community to help individuals facing serious hardships. Through donations of products, tools, equipment and financial support, we worked to give people an opportunity to rebuild, recover and keep moving forward.

We eventually realized that this mission deserved an identity and a future of its own.

In 2026, we formally established The Soar & Restore Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to carrying that spirit of compassion and community forward. What began as a company initiative is evolving into an organization with a mission that extends beyond Phoenix E.O.D. itself.

For me, there’s something incredibly meaningful about that progression.

I spent much of my earlier life helping people during emergencies. Then I spent years building a business around the idea of evolution and resilience. Now, through the foundation, those two parts of my life are coming together in a way I never could have planned.

Today, Phoenix E.O.D. continues to grow, manufacture products and develop relationships throughout the automotive detailing industry. At the same time, The Soar & Restore Foundation is beginning its own journey, focused on giving people hope, encouragement and the resources to move forward when life has knocked them down.

I’m proud of what we’ve built with Phoenix E.O.D., but I’m equally excited about what we’re building through the foundation.

Because at the end of the day, I don’t want my legacy to be measured by how many bottles of ceramic coating we sold.

I’d much rather it be measured by how many lives we helped change.

**Aspire To Evolve.**

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Has it been a smooth road?

Not even remotely.

I’ve often joked that if someone had shown me in 2021 what the next five years would look like, I probably would have run screaming in the opposite direction.

Building Phoenix E.O.D. has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, but it has also come at an extraordinary personal cost.

When you’re a small-business owner, especially one manufacturing your own products, there really isn’t an off switch. You’re responsible for everything. Product development, manufacturing, packaging, shipping, customer service, finances, marketing, and somehow finding enough hours in the day to keep it all moving forward.

There have been times when I didn’t know how I was going to pay the next bill. Times when I had to choose between investing in the business and taking care of myself. Times when I questioned whether the sacrifices I was making would ever amount to anything.

And then came 2026.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we had to relocate our entire manufacturing and distribution operation from New Jersey to Ohio. Imagine trying to move an entire chemical manufacturing business across state lines while keeping your customers supplied, your products available, and your company financially afloat.

Now imagine doing all of that while your personal life is falling apart.

In the middle of rebuilding Phoenix E.O.D., my marriage was ending. I was facing the loss of the life and home I’d known, trying to establish myself in a new state, and carrying the emotional and financial weight of everything happening around me.

There were days when I genuinely didn’t know what I had left to give.

I think that’s something people often overlook about entrepreneurship. We celebrate the success stories, the milestones, the announcements, and the photographs of people standing proudly in front of their businesses. We rarely see what happens after everyone goes home.

The exhaustion. The loneliness. The financial uncertainty. The relationships strained by years of sacrifice.

I’ve experienced all of it.

And I’m not going to pretend that every hardship has magically made me stronger or that I’ve somehow figured everything out. There are things I’m still working through, and there are losses that success in business will never replace.

But through everything, I’ve also witnessed extraordinary kindness.

People who showed up when I needed help. Friends who reminded me why I started. Customers who believed in Phoenix even when I struggled to believe in myself. An automotive detailing community that became something much closer to family than I ever expected.

And perhaps that’s why The Soar & Restore Foundation means so much to me.

I know what it feels like to watch the life you’ve built begin to unravel. I know how difficult it can be to ask for help, and how much it means when someone offers it without expecting anything in return.

If the experiences I’ve endured can help me build something that gives another person hope when they need it most, then perhaps something meaningful can come from all of this.

Phoenix E.O.D. stands for Evolve Or Die.

For years, that was the philosophy behind my company.

In 2026, it became something much more personal.

I’m still here. Phoenix is still here. And we’re not finished writing this story.

**Aspire To Evolve.**

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Phoenix E.O.D., LLC?
Phoenix E.O.D., LLC is a veteran-owned American manufacturer of professional automotive detailing chemicals, ceramic coatings, and surface protection products. Founded in 2021, our company operates under a philosophy that is reflected in our name: **Evolve Or Die.** Our motto, **”Aspire To Evolve,”** represents our commitment to continuous improvement, innovation, and refusing to become complacent.

One of the things that sets Phoenix E.O.D. apart is that we’re not simply a marketing company purchasing finished products and putting our labels on them. We manufacture the majority of our chemical product line ourselves at our facility in Boardman, Ohio. From blending and batching to bottling, labeling, and fulfillment, we’re directly involved in bringing our products to market.

Our product lineup includes everything from professional automotive shampoos, interior cleaners, and paint correction compounds to advanced ceramic coatings and surface protection technology.

Among our flagship products is **Kronos Ceramic Clear Coat Protection**, a polysilazane-based ceramic coating engineered for long-term surface protection. We’ve continued evolving that technology with **Kronos Graphene**, incorporating modern graphene dispersion technology into our ceramic coating platform. Our **Titan SiO2 Hybrid Detailer** has also become one of our signature products, providing an easy-to-use maintenance and protection solution for professional detailers and automotive enthusiasts alike.

But our business is about much more than what’s inside the bottle.

Phoenix E.O.D. has developed relationships with professional detailers, distributors, and automotive enthusiasts throughout the United States and internationally. We’ve worked hard to build those relationships through accessibility, product education, honest conversations, and direct customer support. When someone contacts Phoenix E.O.D., there’s a good chance they’re speaking directly with the person who helped make the product they’re asking about.

We’ve also expanded into contract manufacturing and private-label development, working with other businesses to help bring their own automotive and surface-care product concepts to life.

Another important part of our identity is *Phoenix E.O.D. Presents: The Corner Hangout*, our automotive industry podcast. What started as an opportunity to talk with fellow detailers and industry professionals has grown into a platform for conversations about entrepreneurship, innovation, personal struggles, community, and the people behind the businesses.

Perhaps what I’m most proud of, however, is how our business has helped inspire **The Soar & Restore Foundation**.

Through our annual *Rise From The Ashes – Pay It Forward Campaign*, we discovered the extraordinary generosity of the automotive detailing community. What began as an effort to help people experiencing hardship evolved into the creation of an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to carrying that mission forward.

I believe businesses have an opportunity to accomplish something beyond generating revenue. They can create relationships, strengthen communities, and become a vehicle for helping people who need a hand.

That’s what we’re trying to build with Phoenix E.O.D.

We’re a relatively small company competing in an industry filled with much larger brands and marketing budgets. We don’t pretend otherwise. But we take tremendous pride in the quality of our products, the relationships we’ve established, and the fact that we’re building something that represents our values.

Ultimately, I want people to recognize Phoenix E.O.D. not just for what we manufacture, but for how we treat people.

**We’re not interested in simply being another brand on a shelf. We want to be a brand that stands for something.**

Aspire To Evolve.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I think there’s a significant difference between being fearless and being willing to take risks.

I’ve never considered myself fearless. I’ve been afraid plenty of times throughout my life. But I’ve also learned that fear doesn’t necessarily mean you should stop. Sometimes it means you’re standing at the edge of something that could change your life.

I served in the United States Army, spent more than two decades in emergency medical services, and eventually walked away from the familiarity of that world to pursue something completely different.

In 2021, I founded Phoenix E.O.D. with an idea, a belief in what I wanted to create, and absolutely no guarantee that any of it would work.

I wasn’t entering an industry where I had spent decades building a career. I was entering an incredibly competitive market filled with established brands, enormous marketing budgets, and people who knew far more about the automotive detailing business than I did.

And I decided to build a manufacturing company.

Looking back, there was probably a certain amount of insanity involved in that decision. I look at being a small business owner as throwing your parachute out of the plane and then jumping out after it and try to catch it.

But the biggest risk wasn’t starting Phoenix E.O.D. The biggest risk was everything I continued putting into it after I started.

Every time the business needed another investment, every time something went wrong, every time I had to decide whether to keep fighting or walk away, I was making another calculated gamble on the future.

And some of those gambles came at a very real cost.

I think we have a tendency to romanticize entrepreneurship. We celebrate the person who risked everything and succeeded, but we don’t spend nearly enough time talking about the people who risked everything and are still trying to find their footing.

I’m one of those people.

In 2026, I relocated my entire company from New Jersey to Ohio. It was a tremendous logistical and financial undertaking, and it happened during one of the most difficult periods of my personal life.

There were moments when the safest decision, at least on paper, would have been to shut everything down and walk away.

But I couldn’t bring myself to abandon something I’d spent five years building, especially when I knew how much potential it still had.

That doesn’t mean every decision I’ve made was the right one. It doesn’t mean I haven’t made mistakes or that I wouldn’t do certain things differently if I had the opportunity.

I absolutely would.

One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned is that **just because you’re willing to sacrifice everything for something doesn’t necessarily mean you should.**

There’s a difference between perseverance and losing yourself in the pursuit of a dream. That’s a lesson I’m still learning.

Today, I approach risk differently than I did five years ago. I’m more deliberate. I ask harder questions. I pay closer attention to what a decision might cost beyond dollars and cents.

And with the creation of The Soar & Restore Foundation, I’ve taken on another kind of responsibility. We’re building something intended to help people who are struggling, and that requires not just passion, but accountability, careful stewardship, and a willingness to think beyond ourselves.

So, do I consider myself a risk-taker?

Absolutely.

But I no longer believe that taking the biggest risk makes you the bravest person in the room.

Sometimes courage is knowing when to push forward.

Sometimes it’s knowing when to change direction.

And sometimes it’s having the humility to recognize that the thing you’re fighting so hard to save shouldn’t cost you everything else that matters.

**Evolve Or Die isn’t about blindly charging forward. It’s about recognizing when something needs to change and having the courage to change with it.**

That’s what risk-taking means to me today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.phoenixeod.com
• Instagram: phoenixeod
• Facebook: Phoenix EOD
• LinkedIn: Phoenix E.O.D., LLC
• Twitter: Phoenix_EOD
• Youtube: @phoenixeod