1.  Company: Joe’s Garage
 How we met: He’s my father!
Reece O’Connor
Nichols College
Business & Society
MGMT-100-08

2.  Joe’s Garage is a sole  Joe’s Garage
proprietorship. provides automotive
 Joseph chose this repair and towing.
structure because  My father has been
the business itself is in business since
too small for more 1982.
than one person.

3.  How he got started: Him and his partner were
looking for a place to rent as a garage or a gas
station. They found the building used today
and asked if it was available, which it was.
After getting a business license through the
town, they started asking different petroleum
companies about purchasing gasoline.
 Joseph and his partner split the lease half
way, in order to finance the purchase.
 They also got an oil company to give them
gasoline on consignment.

4.  My father started his business because he
wanted change, he was sick of working for
someone else, and he wanted to be his own
boss.
 Joseph was always around cars while growing
up, as his uncle owned a repair shop that he
hung around in throughout his childhood. He
took automotive classes in high school and
attended 1 year at Rhode Island Trade Shop in
1977.

5. WHEN IT STARTED: TODAY:
 Joe sold gasoline  He owns the building
 He rented the building now (purchased in 1994)
 More customers  Less customers, but
 Bought more tools higher prices
 Car parts and materials
cost more
 As cars evolve he has
attended more seminars

6.  What have been the successes?
 Being his own boss
 Making up his own hours
 Closing when he wants to
 Flexibility to be involved in family life
 Gaining a good reputation locally
 Good customer loyalty
 Long and friendly customer relationships

7.  Joe’s most rewarding  The critical success
aspect has to be the factors in the vehicle
fact that he’s repaired repair industry are;
a countless number of having good
cars in his days, his education in both
business hasn’t gone automotive and
belly-up, he has stuck business, keeping up
through tough to date tools and
times, and he is giving technology, and
people their money’s perseverance in a
worth. tough economy.

8.  What have been the challenges?
 Trying to stay afloat in this bad economy
 Trying to keep prices low when competitors
undercut
 Getting information on new vehicles or technology
from manufacturers with little to no effort
 Large dealers get the information with no hassle
 The most challenging aspect?
 Cars are always changing – you have to keep up
with the new information and new technology

9.  How has Joe  Fatal flaws in this
overcome those type of business:
challenges?  Getting a bad part
 He learns as much as from a manufacturer
he can in an efficient and installing it
manner  He has to pay for
another part
 The customer often
becomes angry
 Overall he loses
customer
loyalty, time, and
money

10.  Who are his two  How does Joe keep
closest competitors? his customers satisfied
 Grafton Tire and how does he
 Sam’s Auto Services build customer
loyalty?
 How does he acquire
competitive  Being honest
advantages?  Keeping prices low
 Buying tools and
becoming educated
on specific repairs
that those shops don’t
offer.

11.  Joe’s strategies for marketing:
 He used to advertise in the phonebook, but not
enough people use it anymore
 Local advertisements like little league baseball and
charity basketball games
 He has his contact information on his tow truck
 A lot of his customers come from peer-to-peer
advertising
 How does Joe staff?
 Trick question; he doesn’t, he’s a one man crew

12.  Joe plans to stay in business for as long as he
can
 He would like to specialize in one type of
vehicle

13.  How did he end up becoming a sole
proprietorship after starting out a partnership?
 He bought out his partner because there wasn’t
enough space or profit for two people
 Has it always been Joe’s Garage?
 No, it was “PJ’s Auto” for a year, when he had his
partner
 How did you handle different gas crises?
 He would tell people he didn’t have gas, but he
would have friends come late at night to buy the gas
he had

14.  What advice does Joe have for you?
 Go in to a field that is secure
 Take your time, don’t just jump in to business
 Investigate every factor of a business you’re
interested in
 It is going to be tough at first but it gets must easier
 Work hard and put in a lot of hours, and you will be
rewarded
 What did I learn?
 I learned that being honest and hard working can
keep you afloat in a bad economy