Today we’d like to introduce you to Carolina Beltran Sonny Letak.
Carolina Beltran, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Sonny and I met in 2015. Back then, he was flipping cars out of his backyard in the Old Fourth Ward. He was also working in sales and hated it. I was working at AT&T and had newly started business school at Georgia Tech. One night, while looking for another sales role I knew he’d hate, I asked him why he wanted to find another crappy sales job when he could just go out on his own. That’s how the idea of owning an auto repair shop started. In December 2018, we took the keys to Almost Auto Service, an auto repair shop in Clarkston (“the most diverse square mile in America”) and opened for business on January 2, 2018.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It was a rocky start for sure. During our fifth week in business, some idiot tried to rob the shop at gunpoint in broad daylight the Tuesday morning after the Eagles won Super Bowl LII (GO BIRDS!). Anyone that knows Sonny knows he isn’t going to let anyone rob him so rather than give the gunman any money, Sonny proceeds to fight the guy and get shot through his side. The guy fled (he was caught later that day trying to buy Chinese food with a card he’d stolen off someone prior trying to rob us), Sonny was taken to Grady and released later that day with a wound but no major damage. Did everyone go to work the next day? Yes, yes. we did. We don’t even let attempted robbery get us down.
That aside, I would say it’s been relatively smooth. Revenue-wise, we’ve grown year over year, some years doubling revenue. We’ve taken some strategic risk with investments trying to get our business to $2M in revenue a year. That’s our biggest challenge now, continued growth 8 years in, taking our business from $1.2 to $2M.
As you know, we’re big fans of Almost Auto Service Inc.. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I always get questions about the name of our business. When we purchased it, we were told we could not change the name of the shop if we wanted to keep the business license, so we kept it. A few years ago we shortened it to A.A.S.
The shop has been in Clarkston since 1996. We purchased it from a Vietnamese war veteran who wanted to retire. We fix all makes and models and specialize in Ford F-150s through our other brand, The F-150 Man. I
We are known for our unique approach to customer service. Sonny and I are experience-driven. The experience is more important to us than what we fix because any good repair shop can fix your car. I love that our shop takes the time to educate you and actually shows you what is going with your car and why it needs the repairs it does. My greatest hope is that the experience you have at our shop exceeds your expectations. Don’t let us tell you how good we are though, read our 390+ Google reviews.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Bring your car in! If you’re a small business with a fleet, give us a try!
Contact Info:
Image Credits
Scott Lowden
