Today we’d like to introduce you to Waqas Suleman.
Hi Waqas, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I went to high school in Rochester, NY. After high school, I enrolled myself in community college due to financial reasons; I was not able to attend a four-year college. After the first year, my grades were falling, and due to my family’s financial situation and my commitment to helping my parents, I decided to attend trade school (Universal Technical Institute) for a year to support my family. Since there was a UTI campus in Houston, TX, and I also had some family there, I made the decision to move to Houston. I moved to Houston in 2003 and enrolled myself in UTI.
While attending UTI, I was looking for a job to support myself and find a place to stay. I was staying with a family member on the south side of Houston, and I had to drive 35 miles each way every day. I used to wake up at 4 AM and leave the house by 4:30 AM to get to the north side of Houston to start classes at 6 AM. I was also searching for a job to pay for my gas and food. I was living on a very tight budget as I had only moved here with a few hundred dollars.
After a month, I was able to get a job at a car dealership as a valet, which was a relief as I was running short on money and cutting short on meals. I took this job with the hope of one day becoming a technician after finishing my school and wanting to get my foot in the door to learn everything in this field. I continued to travel long distances and work every day until 7 PM. On Saturdays, I was working a full day at the dealership, and I was also able to secure a job at a retail store for Sundays to pay for gas and my expenses. Some days involved living in my car to save money on gas and travel time.
After six months, I was offered a job as a lube tech at the same dealership, making a little more than $200 a week. With this position, I was able to make enough money to find a place to share with someone.
At this time, I learned that my parents’ business in Rochester was not doing well, and they were going to lose their house. I decided to have them move down to Houston, and I started looking for an apartment within our budget, as the only income we had was mine, and there were three of us. Within a few weeks of their move, we found a place that was within our budget, and we decided to go for it, hoping for the best.
For the next six months, I continued to work at my position, but it wasn’t enough to cover our bills. I decided I wanted to make a move and start my own business. While I had no clue about how to start and operate a business, I wasn’t left with many options. My dad had some business experience, so I followed his guidance, and we started to look for a small shop to figure out how much we needed to start a business between rent and tools.
We came across a small shopping strip, and in one corner, there was an old auto shop that had been closed for a while and was being used for storage. We made a deal with the landlord to clean it ourselves to get a month of rent-free, and we started to find ways to secure a small loan from a family member to start the business. In 2004, we were able to open our doors.
For the first 1.5 years, I was working in the shop, ordering parts and taking care of customers, while my dad handled all the paperwork, and my mom cleaned the shop. After a year, I was able to secure an ambulance fleet account, which started bringing in more revenue and set us in the right direction. After two years of running the business on my own, working seven days a week for 14-16 hours a day, I hired a helper. I started to gain more fleet accounts, and at one point, I was servicing multiple ambulance companies. We kept growing at a smaller pace, and we were no longer living paycheck to paycheck.
After six years of working in that shop, a childhood friend of mine moved down to Texas and wanted to work alongside me. We decided to take a chance on opening another shop. I found a shop in Spring that I fell in love with. At this point, I had saved just under $5,000 over the years to start a new project. I signed the lease and decided to run the new shop, with my friend running the old shop. Two months after opening the new shop, he decided he wanted to move back and no longer wanted to be a part of it. With two shops and no help, it was another roadblock. However, I couldn’t back out of the new lease, so I decided to stay at the new shop, and my dad managed the old shop. After six months, we sold the old shop for a small price and dedicated everything to the new shop.
Being in a better location with more traffic, we received a great response. One of the key lessons I learned from my first business was the importance of customer service. I wanted to ensure I gave my customers the best experience. We also added a body shop to the business, even though I had no prior knowledge of bodywork. I started watching videos and speaking with people who had experience in the field to learn how it all works. I even developed a new skill – painting – something I had never done before; last few years we were rated in top 20 body shop by expertise.
In 2011, I got married, and in 2012, we had our first child. After that, it seemed like all the closed doors for many years finally opened up for me. Within a few months, I was able to hire more help to keep up with the work, and we began growing quite well.
In 2013, one of my old customers, Joel, retired from his job and wanted to stay busy. He asked if I could use his help. Joel was a very talented and amazing person whom I had always looked up to. He had a lot of past experience in the automotive industry, so he started working part-time for me. He took care of all the back-end aspects of the business, handling finances and contributing to our growth. Joel brought a lot of experience that I didn’t have, and together we started moving forward. Within a few years, we were able to buy the property we were leasing, which was a huge accomplishment for me.
I never lost focus on where I came from, and I was still working 16-hour days. However, I was now working six days a week. We added a new service advisor and more technicians, and we were growing at a steady pace. In 2021, I lost Joel very suddenly, and it was a significant setback for me. For many years, Joel had been like another father to me and a mentor. His sudden loss was a shock in many ways, particularly in business. Until then, I had never looked into the financial side, as Joel had handled everything. Overnight, I had to learn how to manage bills, taxes, and insurances. It was very challenging for me to learn everything that Joel had been taking care of and continue to handle my responsibilities in the shop. My team was there for me, and they took care of all my duties, allowing me to focus on the back-end responsibilities.
Before Joel passed, we were working on a new project to open another automotive shop that focuses on European vehicles. In 2022, I began working on that project because it was something Joel really wanted and was very excited about. So now, we have two shops, and I have an amazing team and family, and we strive to get better every day. Vic Auto Collision & European Motorwerks.
I hope this helps!
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, as I wrote in my story. Every step of the way, I faced challenges, and nobody believed in me at the start. My family and friends formed their opinions based on my struggles in school, and they doubted my ability to succeed in life. Going through tough times while having little support from those around you can easily break a person. However, I had one goal in mind: I would prove them wrong and make my parents proud, showing that not everyone needs to be book-smart. I believe that some of the obstacles and challenges I faced in life are the reasons I am here today because they helped me focus and become a better person.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next, you can tell us a bit more about your business.
At Vic’s, we tell it like it is and always keep our customers’ best interests in mind. We’ve established a reputation as an auto shop that’s honest and consistently delivers great value. Our regular customers know we’ll always shoot straight with them when they bring in their vehicles for service, scheduled maintenance, or bodywork. We have been rated in the top 20 body shops by expertise for the last 5 years, and we have over 1000 5-star reviews across the internet. We started as a family business, and after all these years, we maintain the same mindset, treating our employees and customers like family and fostering long-term relationships. We even have second and third-generation customers coming to us.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Yes, to gain experience before you start your own business to minimize struggles and prepare for a roller coaster ride. Always set your goals high. If someone says something different, don’t pay attention and just focus on what you want where you want to be, and do it with integrity. Don’t aim to get rich overnight. Be fair to your customers, be honest with yourself and the people around you, and treat everyone on your team with respect.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://vicautoservices.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VicAutoCollisionandRepair
