We were lucky to catch up with Paul recently and have shared our conversation below.

Paul, appreciate you joining us today. One of the most important things we can do as business owners is ensure that our customers feel appreciated. What’s something you’ve done or seen a business owner do to help a customer feel valued?

Years ago, there was an older couple who were traveling across country in their RV. On their way back home to Northern California, their RV kept breaking along the way. They spent countless hours and money trying to fix it to get home. I worked on the car for hours and told them to get in so I can take them on a test drive. The RV was driving great. During the test drive I asked where they lived. They said Mill Valley, near the Bay Area. I suddenly said, buckle up, we’re headed to Mill Valley. I called my wife and told her I was going to drive this couple home and would be home the following day as the car drive was over 10 hours. I knew she would not be happy as she would be worried about me. They had fallen asleep most of the long drive home. We arrived LATE that night. The couples friend had opened up his Italian Restaurant after hours so that we could have a delicious dinner. They then got their guest room ready for me to spend the night. The following morning, they took me to the airport and mailed my tools back to Las Vegas. Many years later, they would send us Holiday cards.

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?

Prior to opening the shop in 1999, I decided that I wanted to open a shop of my own. As I lived out of state, when I would visit Las Vegas and see the growth. I then researched some automotive repair shops. When I first purchased it, it was a small franchise. The franchise would come weekly to pick up their franchise checks and tell us we need to charge more since they made money based on our invoices. Month after month, they would continually “harass” us. I grew up to be honest and truthful, I wanted to this business to succeed long term. I wanted to sleep at night. I wanted to help the community of Vegas and establish long term, repeat customers. Therefore, I bought out of the franchise. 26 years later, we are still committed to honest auto repairs. The majority of our customers are repeat customer or referrals from friends and family.

Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?

This question was actually answered in my previous answer.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My employees are always treated like my own family. I believe not only do I have to provide for my own family but also those that work for me. Throughout the years, I had to overcome the costs of starting my business and providing enough capital to support my own family but also my work family. We struggled at times through the recession, Covid and just slow periods. However throughout it all, I knew that not only my family depending on us getting through it, I had to make sure my employees were taken care of too.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://paulsautoservicelv.com
• Instagram: pauls.auto.service
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/17YdXbgncD/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/XSgmj0lN1S

Image Credits

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