Today we’d like to introduce you to Jazmine Bazan.
Hi Jazmine, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Ever since I was little,I had a passion for entrepreneurship. I watched Shark Tank growing up as a kid and told everyone that I wanted to own my own business, it didn’t matter what it was. The winter of 2020 I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in Business Management. At the same time, my mom’s friend was selling her driving school. I thought what a perfect opportunity for us. We’re in the middle of COVID, I just got out of college, jobs are scarce and people NEED their Drivers License. I took all my experiences and knowledge from previous positions held and college and hit the ground running. We took a business that was shut down during the pandemic and lost money fast to a fully functioning driving school committed to helping out its community. We flyer’d the city like crazy. Made sure all the high schools and local businesses knew we were open. We collaborated with North Shore High School to sponsor their Football team. We did events with the Channelview FFA. We did anything and everything to get our name and our brand out there. We worked hard to be where we are now. (We, meaning, my mom, boyfriend, and myself). In just 8 months we went from sharing an extra small office space with a car wash to branching out into our own building. We were told we weren’t going to make any money, that we weren’t going to last far on our own. But here we are in 2022, exactly 1 year in our new location right across from Channelview high school doing better than ever. Our name is out there, 1st Priority Driving School. We get customers all the way from Humble, Katy, and North Houston to take their course with us and get their Driver’s License. We love what we do and we know we do it well.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. We have had every obstacle in the book thrown at us, getting started. I knew I had to make this work, I knew I didn’t want to work a normal 9-5 corporate job. Owning and running this business was what I was meant to do and we weren’t going to let anything stop us. Our previous location was not an ideal environment to be in. I felt our customers and students deserved more from us. They deserved to be in a space where they felt comfortable, where it’s professional and clearly represents us and our brand. I remember having a class in December 2020, the building we were in had NO HEATER and our students had to be there for 2 hours, they were freezing! That same month we were actually held at gunpoint. We were holding a 7pm-9pm class for our teen students. My mom let them on a break when a man came in with a face covering (we’re in the pandemic, of course, I didn’t think anything of it), a sweater and hands in his pocket. He came in asking for information and immediately my mom sensed something was off. When I was done giving information regarding our courses and gave him a flier he pulled a gun and pointed it at my mom who was standing by the restroom watching him. The owner of the car wash and building keeps her rottweiler in the back, my mom let him loose and the man ran out the door. It was traumatizing, to say the least. We knew after that incident, that it was not going to slow us down. We worked hard to move out of there as soon as possible. And in May 2021, we did.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about 1st Priority Driving School?
1st Priority is a driving school dedicated to serving and contributing to its community. We offer top of the line driving education services for East Houston and surrounding areas. Teen & Adult Driver Education Courses, Private Driving Lessons, Defensive Driving, & Authorized DPS Road Testing is all done here! We serve customers ages 15 to 80+. We are located at 983 Sheldon Rd., Channelview, TX right across from Channelview High School. We want to clean up the streets of reckless driving and are committed to creating safe and responsible drivers for years to come.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
We love collaborating with local businesses and really any business. We host annual Car Shows where we have a popup market inviting local businesses to set up a tent and promote themselves. We love supporting our local community as well, by sponsoring the high school’s sports, marching band, FFA, etc. We have also partnered with This App Saves Lives to encourage safe undistracted driving.
Pricing:
- Teen Course – $400
- Adult Course – $180
- Road Test – $80
- Private Driving Lessons – $50/hr
- Defensive Driving – $25
Contact Info:
- Email: jazmine.bazan@1stpriorityds.com
- Website: www.1stPriorityDriving.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1stpriorityds/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1stPriorityDS
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/1stPriorityDS
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/1st-priority-driving-school-channelview-2
- Other: https://linktr.ee/1stpriorityds
