We recently connected with J. Clark and have shared our conversation below.
J., thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
‘Pressure bursts pipes – or makes diamonds.’
Resilience. A word that in my youth I most associated with is an isolated triumph or victory, usually in relation to playing a sport. It didn’t occur to me then that I would need resilience in everyday life. I spent some years playing competitive sports and now a couple of years as a full-time business owner. Through these experiences, I’ve learned that no matter what level of skill one may possess, the one with the most fortitude has the best odds of success.
J., 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?
Buying 12 cars in a calendar year was never in the cards for me, it kind of just happened. Spending 5 years with the worldwide leader in the car rental industry gave me the confidence to proceed in this business. In my time with the industry leader, I served in one of the company’s top-ranked markets of Indianapolis and followed that up with joining a larger market in nearby Chicago. During this time I worked in branches from 50-car fleets all the way up to 4000+-car fleets in international airport locations. There was a much different learning curve with operating the larger fleets in comparison to small ones, but all had their own unique challenges that influenced an understanding of the car rental market that could not be taught, but must be learned through real experience.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Going into Year 2, in the midst of a Chicago winter, I made the tough decision to send 3 of my best-performing units to a new market under new management. This was a short-term relief for us as these were 3 vehicles the company no longer had to physically manage on a day-to-day and would free up time to find more vehicles and be with family more. The move backfired, as the manager started off okay but ended up shorting me on over 3 months of rental income on the vehicles. It took a full 90 days to come to the conclusion that this manager was in over his head and had no route to recovery. I had to work with him to move the vehicles to a new manager and suffered nearly 4 months with no income from my best 4 units during the ordeal. The fleet back in Chicago ended up outperforming its projections and kept the business afloat during this time. We are still battling this situation and look forward to having our fleet back to full operation and strength.
Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?
Accel Travel is more than just renting cars and booking stays. We are the one-stop-shop of a growing industry of asset sharing. There is a ton of information on the industries of car sharing and short-term rental. We wish to provide valuable, industry-leading systems, information, and insight for out clients.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://travelaccel.us
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jclarkreel/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JustinClark5595/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinclark5595/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jclarkreel
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6YBtbs6RUbd_TXNQWtIzmg
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/accel-car-rental-chicago
- Other: https://anchor.fm/jclarkreel