Today we’d like to introduce you to Kimberly Garcia-Khan.
Kimberly, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My husband and I are a pair of thrill-seeking, adrenaline-fueled motorcycle riders. When the weather permits, you will find us on two wheels heading out of the city and onto our next adventure. We have a beautiful son, that at the age of 6, started requesting his participation in such motorcycle trips. Feeling guilty for not being able to accommodate his desire to ride, as his little arms and hands didn’t have a strong grip around us, we decided to begin our search for an adequate alternative. The three of us made a quick stop at a motorcycle dealership and as we walked through the entrance doors, we spotted the batmobile lookalike. Anxious to find out what it was, we asked one of the representatives for the name of the vehicle and, of course, a test drive. After a quick joyride, my husband inquired about a slingshot rental agency in town, we wanted to thoroughly feel the rush of the trike. The representative gave us an awkward look and informed us that no such thing existed. At that moment, it just clicked – a new business opportunity in Houston! We decided to purchase the original, Polaris Slingshot Silver Turbo SL and Houston Slingshot Rental was born. In less than a week, the company was established and my first client came on inauguration day!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
In order to reach success, every business encounters struggles and rough patches along that way. Mine ranged from clients abusing the units, technical issues, schedule conflicts, lack of personal time, and a bundle of late nights to plan for the next rental and marketing move. It has been a learning curve since the beginning and I continue to learn from issues that occur on a daily basis.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Houston Slingshot Rental is the original and largest Polaris Slingshot rental agency in Texas. We are the only agency that has both 2016 and 2017 slingshot models available, meeting our clients’ color preference, style and amount of riders in each party. Our customer service is exceptional and incomparable. Caring about our riders’ safety and satisfaction is our top priority. We are flexible in our operation hours and have various locations across the Houston area.
What were you like growing up?
Money is not all in life but it sure played a major role throughout my childhood. My family’s financial struggle led me to develop an entrepreneurial spirit at an early age: in 4th grade, to be exact. Using my own lunch money, I bought a pack of 20 candy pieces to sell during recess time. I successfully sold the entire pack within the first 10 minutes. I had enough profit to buy another pack and give the rest to my parents that evening. That process continued until the school administration recognized me as their competition. For the successive years of middle and high school, my side businesses were plenty. After graduating with my double bachelor’s degree, having a full-time profession wasn’t enough.
The hardships my family underwent also endowed me with a sense of non-complacency. Then and now, it has always been about doing better, it was always been about reaching further. I have been determined to do anything in my power to get ahead, and so I have. In middle school, I managed to test out of every subject of 7th grade, going from 6th grade straight to 8th. My motive: my dad would be working in the U.S., while my older sister and I would complete our middle school education. I refused to accept an extra year without my father around, thus, I fought hard to get all of my credits through exams. After graduating middle school, with high honors and not knowing a single word in english, we reunited with my dad in the United States. At that time, I had just turned 13 and was ready to start high school. Unfortunately, the process of enrolling into my assigned school wasn’t as smooth as I had expected. It took around 13 denials before finally being admitted and placed in the ESL program. I had no clue what ESL courses entailed. I had full knowledge of the material but was unable to verbally communicate. Desperate and frustrated with the language barrier, I dedicated my spare time in learning the basics of English. In less than a semester, I felt confident enough to request an English placement test from the school administration. That procedure became another challenge to overcome. 15 refusals, 2 stubborn counselors and a principal. Later, I passed my placement test by 1 point. Second semester in regular classes and I couldn’t wait for the new material to arrive. Sadly, I was left waiting, until I heard a group of classmates conversing about “pre-ap and ap”. My ignorance led me to believe that “pre-ap and ap” was the latest movie release. When I asked my classmates about the plot of such movie, they gave me an awkward stare and informed me that “pre-ap and ap” meant advance placement program. For me, this represented an opportunity to grow, thus I took it. Fast-forwarding to near the end of my first semester as a junior, the conversation amongst my class revolved around “gpa” and “ranking”. By then, I thought my classmates were referring to a new social media forum, such as “MySpace”. Wanting to know more about it, but afraid of another awkward stare, I approached my teacher for answers. She, as nice as she was, invested her time in explaining the terms in depth, including the amount of credit hours required to graduate from high school. Realizing that by taking 10 classes in the next semester (meaning no off-periods, early dismissals nor extracurricular activities), I would graduate high school one year early. My mentality was that, the sooner I would complete my education, the sooner I would be able to acquire a salary that would help me support my family. Graduating early was a leap closer to success, therefore, I went for it. I arranged my schedule and after being bombarded, by my counselor, with comments such as, “you will never graduate early”, “it’s impossible for you to take that load”, “you will fail”, and “someone like me, that barely knows how to speak English, is signing up for failure”, so, I sought guidance from a senior counselor. She, in disbelief and complete doubt that I would achieve my goal, granted my request for the schedule change. Missing my senior year field trips, prom, graduation walk, yearbook picture, leaving my friends behind, being hated by the senior class (as I, the new kid, acquired the #8 spot amongst 568 seniors) and being booed off stage during my honor roll ceremony, I graduated shortly after turning 16 years old. As if I hadn’t faced enough opposition, my college of choice denied my acceptance because I was too young (the minimum requirement was to be at least 17 years of age). I wasn’t satisfied with wasting time, so, I decided to attend a community college and complete my basic courses. By the time I reapplied to the same university, at the age of 17, I enrolled in 6 classes per semester, did mini terms (holiday college courses) and was able to graduate with a double bachelors degree months after turning 19. After college, I continued my entrepreneurial ways and developed startups that were successful! I have and continue to be a person that perseveres through any and all challenges along my pursuit of success.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5700 NW Central Drive, Houston, Texas 77024
- Website: www.HoustonSlingshotRental.com
- Phone: 8324434375
- Email: info@houstonslingshotrental.com
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