We were lucky to catch up with Adrian Elmore jr recently and have shared our conversation below.

Adrian, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

Risk we take them every day. We take them when we leave the house. We take them when we drive away. We take the everyday life operational risk every day you are alive. I believe taking a risk can cause three things: the good, The Bad, and uncertainty. I look at them like levels 1,2 and 3. Level 1 is your everyday risk where you can usually predict the outcome 90% of the time. This is choosing if you’re going to work today or staying at home that day or choosing what you are going to eat, or what you are going to wear. Those are the level ones.

The second level is that you have two new job opportunities and you have to choose between one or the other but you went through the interviews and met people in both companies. You have a general consensus on who is going to give you a hard time and who’s not you. The risk is higher on level two because you can miss out on the right opportunity if you don’t make the correct decision. You are also able to have a higher Prediction rate because you have previous knowledge of the environment and landscape of that company.

level three is that level of just not being sure because you have no prior knowledge or experience. That can be a very unsettling feeling for most people not knowing what’s going to happen. Deciding to start and run a business might be the most unsettling decision I’ve ever made and felt running a business you have to be ok with uncertainty and have a high-risk tolerance because you may have a general idea of another person’s experience that you have seen, been told about or read about. But that is not your personal experience. Based on previous experiences and prior knowledge something I’ve learned is never in history has there been a monument that was the same history doesn’t repeat itself but it sure does rhyme.

I believe that the biggest risk when starting an independent business is taking on the responsibility of consistently providing for the people and their families who work with your company every week. As time goes on experience begins to take over the uncertainty easily.

Adrian, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My Name is Adrian Elmore Jr I own G Town Auto Body. I currently have three active techs working in the Shop with me. I would say the most difficult thing in this business is the competition, Staying disciplined, continuing to keep your head up, and looking ten steps ahead to the end goal of why you even started doing it anyway But out of all of these things I think the competition might be the most difficult thing. There are 10 Shops within a 5-mile radius of our shop and 8 out of the 10 of our chain companies have been around for 60+ years. Honestly, we don’t mind it. I believe it only will continue to make us better and grow. We have grown to a point where we are launching a car rental company A3k Rentals to offer to the public and our customers at a discounted rate.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A Lesson I had to unlearn. working hard and hard work are two different things and at times both of those things still do not mean profitability. In the beginning, I thought that if I was in the shop scuffing bumpers and changing control arms that would increase production. Which it did increase production but not profitability. I could not figure out what the issue was when I looked at the number but then it finally clicked you can’t run an efficient and profitable auto body shop if you’re in the shop for 8+ hours working. There are far more papers, phone calls, and emails to send per car than there will ever cars be in the lot. Along with marketing, customer follow-ups, and updating customers throughout the jobs. Once I learned the difference between the front office and running an efficient business is a full-time job I took a step back from working physically in the shop instead I consistently checked in on the guys making sure they had what they needed to be successful. Then I notice a complete difference in profitability and workflow.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Funding the business was difficult we used our own money and did not get any loans and currently don’t have any loans. To create revenue. I would go to all of the used car dealers in the area and offer services at a discounted rate to them. The margins were extremely slim but it added up. I would also see people on the side of the high that just got in a car wreck give them a card and have them towed to the shop and close the deal. Eventually, we were able to build a name and a presence in the area to have consistent higher quality work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gtownautobody.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/g_town_autobodyllc/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/G-Town-Auto-body-LLC-100076167662837/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Gtown159/about?app=desktop