Today we’d like to introduce you to Terry Hamernik.
Hi Terry, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Started out with a dad who’s been a mechanic his whole life telling me to “use your head don’t be a mechanic” contrary to popular belief I feel like good mechanics are very intelligent. After highschool I worked a couple mechanic jobs but ended up choosing the Trucker career path. I enjoyed wrenching on my own stuff when I was home. After driving for 6 to 7 years i met my wife who at the time dealt with my schedule but didn’t particularly care for it. I was hauling blacktop for a company out of Goodview when the season was over I was laid off. Due to unemployment issues, my poor financial decisions (trucks) and my inability to just be unemployed. I started applying for different jobs. I would always go to my dad’s work and tell him which places I applied who had called me back and if there was any offers. After a couple weeks of that one day I walked past my dad’s boss and said “I’m here enough, you should just get me a uniform.” On my way out that day he asked if I was serious, I started that following week. I worked that job assuming in the spring I would go back to driving but I made a promise to my dad and myself I would stick it out a full year. Working there really grew my confidence as a mechanic. I started feeling confident enough to start working on other people’s vehicles on the side. After 4 years of working on Semi’s and Diesel pickups on the side I felt going out on my own was inevitable. At the time I didn’t feel I knew enough about the automotive world to even attempt it. I ended up taking a job at a very well respected automotive shop in Lewiston. To this day it was the best job I have ever had and the best group of people I have ever worked with. After two years an opportunity came up to rent a building. 6 years doing work on the side it seemed like every waking moment I had I was out in my dads garage with him building my dream. The day I loaded up my toolbox in Lewiston I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t some tears but my boss looked at me and said “ I know you’ll do well” which meant a lot. Things at the new shop started out slow it seemed huge I didn’t know how I’d ever get enough business to fill it. I bought a used hoist from a friend a slightly used air compressor and got to work.
My dad was there everyday after work until 9:30-10 every night. I finally had enough work to hire someone. Things started pretty slow at first I didn’t know how to be a boss or even how manage employees to be honest I still struggle sometimes but after about a year I felt confident enough in his abilities there was no worries about his quality of work. As work came in I found out I needed even more help. We’re now up to 4 full time guys and have very quickly outgrown the shop that seemed so huge in the beginning
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not at all. Being a mechanic and being a business owner are two very different things and I found that out in a hurry. I had around 25k saved up before I opened and in about 3 months that was gone. The first 15 or so months I paid myself less than $1000 a month if I paid myself at all. There was a couple times I had to take money out of my personal savings just to make payroll. I took a line of equity out on our house just to keep everything rolling when no bank would give me an actual business loan. I’ve had some great guys working here that have either moved on to better opportunities or I’ve had to let go.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We work on Diesel and gas pickups and SUV’s mainly but we’ve seen everything from front end loaders to an 83 corvette. We specialize in diesel repair. I have always been a Chevy fan but I would say the crew we have are very knowledgeable with every diesel engine offered in pickups. When someone refers my shop to someone else there’s a huge rush of pride. I feel there’s some independent shops out there that are after every dollar they can get from every repair. I think honesty sets us apart I’ve found if you’re honest and take care of your customers it will bring in more revenue than overcharging and upselling.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
There’s a lot of things that we’re going on in my personal life in the last three plus years that made it very hard and to be honest typing all that out would take me a while
