We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joslyn Dent. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joslyn below.
Joslyn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Crazy stuff happening is almost as certain as death and taxes – it’s technically “unexpected” but something unexpected happening is to be expected and so can you share a crazy story with our readers
Most people know that, in order for them to start a new business you will need to raise funds by either bootstrapping, family fundraising or just going into debt leveraging your credit cards or tapping the equity in your home. As strange as this may sound, Dent Tires didn’t take any of those traditional approaches. The company was actually financed using a $300 investment into a cryptocurrency meme coin. We heard about an obscured meme coin called Bidao from a relatively obscure YouTuber named Ben Armstrong aka Bitboy Crypto. He mentioned the coin briefly on his channel so we bought it and held it for several years. Well that small investment ballooned into a whopping $10,000 payday and with those profits we were able to place a down payment on a new 2020 Honda CRV, built a deck on the back of our home, but most importantly we bought the first 8 tires for Dent Tires, LLC. Imagine launching a commercial wholesale truck tire company with $300 worth of cryptocurrency. Over time, we grew a little more savvy with our crypto investment strategy and were able to build a 7 figure business. Along the way BitBoy Crypto heard about our success and invited us to appear on his show for a live interview. Ironically, Ben was no longer the small YouTuber from our past, nowadays he has the largest crypto channel on the internet with 1.5 million subscribers. As a result of appearing on his show, the whole crypto community has embraced this husband and wife team that make up Dent Tires and since that initial interview, we have appeared on multiple podcasts, YouTube channels, been nominated for multiple entrepreneurial awards while still staying true to ourselves and our customers. This is the power of prayer, hope, hard work, preparation, planning and execution.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Dent Tires was a company born out of necessity. My husband of 15 years lost his job and for the very first time I saw a broken man with a glimmer of confusion on his face. He was in a very uncomfortable space with so many responsibilities but no clear path or direction. This was a hard working proud man that valued his family, his time, his health, his customers as well as any business that he chose to give his energy to. My husband has over 25 years of automotive, managerial, tire, sales and trucking experience and for the very first time that I can remember he was at a loss for words. When you dedicate your life to excellence and someone comes along to undermine your process, there will always be a chaotic outcome. He has always had a steady job building his resume from the smallest mundane task to store managers or regional managerial level. Never the one to shy away from hard work, he taught me everything that I know about the automotive and trucking industry. I chose a slightly different path than my husband that prepared me for this journey, meaning that I chose the path of academia, finance and risk management. What our customers enjoy so profusely is our innate ability to relate to their needs, but more importantly is our cohesive bond that resonates so you feel the love that we share for everyone and everything around us. Would you believe that I was relieved of my duties a mere 90 days after my husband was fired. I had never been fired myself and really never wanted to feel the pain or embarrassment that I assumed was associated with the experience. In my mind I felt that I was sort of safe or except from such realities being that I have my MBA with a dual degree in risk management and finance. My managers even assured me as I observed the changing acquisitions and mergers that were taking place at the very company that I had labored for the last 15 years. I thought maybe I missed something, maybe I’m not a part of the in-crowd, or maybe my strong attachment to my family and husband in this changing environment will no longer suit our new ownership. Well before I could draw any conclusions, I was fired but that wasn’t the hardest part of the situation, it was telling my husband and son that mommy no longer had employment so I couldn’t carry the family insurance as we had planned. With butterflies in my stomach I proceeded to tell my husband and after his initial shock, he stated ” you will not stay around this house sulking, come with me and let me teach you everything I know about the automotive and trucking industry. Because of some of the trauma that we faced as employees, we set out to build a company that caters to the average consumer through great customer service and quality work. Our experiences have led to ground breaking renovations in our processes and procedures which has not only led to exponential growth, but a more robust customer experience when you visit our location or just do business with us. So with all of this said, Dent Tires has scaled since its early inception by cultivating relations with multiple banks and distributors, but we never forget our humble beginnings.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Dent Tires experienced an economic boost from the pandemic unlike many of our counterparts. We were under the perception that the industry was stable and if the pandemic couldn’t make the trucking industry waver, then what could? When foreign trade and sanctions through governmental policy started to affect our ability to import our products, we had to pivot and add other product offerings. We saw that there was a need for commercial rims, oil, balancing beads, patches and tire lube, so we quickly brokered deals with all of the top distributors so that we could stay relevant and competitive with our pricing while sticking to our standard of quality work and great customer service. Recently we’ve had to pivot again by hiring a marketing firm to build out our new e-commerce website so that we can offer even more flexibility to our customers and their buying experience. Every year we choose a theme and try to focus on short term and long term goals so if you are not growing your business then you are losing your business.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Now this question has two parts to it so I will give you both answers. We utilize social media a lot but our number one platform that has gained us the most traction is LinkedIn. Through Linkedin we have met many amazing companies that wanted to start a working relationship with us and as a result it has helped us grow tremendously. Next is our ability to go face to face, boots on the ground where we have been traveling around the southeast to personally visit and discover new potential customers. With our combined energy and expertise, we have been able to secure many deals right on the spot. I really feel that we bring a renewed level of honesty and integrity to the industry that has long been forgotten.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.denttiresllc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denttiresllc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/denttiresllc/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/enrique-tetraz-dent-78ba2931/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/denttiresllc?ref_
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwBm7LUYYmSKsHM3itR9HGQ
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/dent-tires-conyers
- Other: Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/denttires/ Reddit – https://www.reddit.com/user/denttiresllc Manta – https://www.manta.com/c/mk7r38t/dent-tires-llc
Image Credits
All pictures taken by Enrique Dent and Joslyn Dent