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Business Opportunity For Women!
A women starting a business today is common and they are doing so in
record numbers. We have trained some very successful women in business. The
windshield repair business is a great business opportunity for women. Our
windshield repair kits and windshield repair tools work great for women. We
train women in their own small business.
This is an affordable business
opportunity for women.
By A
Chick And A Windshield.
Women starting a business have found they can master many of the trades men have traditionally dominated. Trades associated with the automotive world have become increasingly more available and interesting to women. Women owned businesses are now filling occupations as professional female race car drivers, mechanics, auto sales, etc.
Women find it very rewarding to be in control of their cars, learning the skills that keep their cars running, and having the knowledge to make good informed decisions about their cars. For over 100 years women have deferred to men when it came to cars and what made them tick. I was one of these women. Now I am a woman starting a business.
My paternal grandfather started and owned an auto parts business and machine shop in Colorado Springs, CO for over 30 years. My father was the general manager and I started counting parts for inventory by the age of 8 or 9. I was delivering auto parts as soon as I got my driver’s license at age 16. One would think I would have had a great education about cars with this background but the truth is, I didn’t. Women weren't expected or encouraged to start a business. Women starting a business in the 70's was unusual, but the tide was changing.
The only thing I remember my father teaching me to do for my car was to check the oil and the washer fluid level. This was in the days of full service gas stations. I didn’t even know how to pump my own gas as a new driver! Ladies weren’t expected to know how to do the “dirty work” of being a mechanic. So I never learned. I was told to find a good man who knew cars and my life would be set.
Great advice, but not very realistic with our fast paced, rapidly changing life style. Technology and science have advanced automotive performance far beyond anything my grandfather ever dealt with or dreamed of. Still, the basics of maintaining a car are relatively similar and women need to know how to take care of their vehicles.
One of the biggest problems with taking care of our cars is not the car itself or our lack of knowledge; it is the way we women are made to feel when our car has a problem. We often times feel so intimidated by those who perform the servicing that we put off repairs or asking questions until a great amount of damage is done to the car. Women owned business are addressing this need more and more.
If women were the ones performing the repairs or were at the very least the ones we interfaced with to begin the repair process, we ladies would feel a great deal more comfortable and less intimidated. Women communicate very differently than men do. Because of this difference, we often misunderstand men and charge the things they say with more emotion and frustration than we would if we heard the same message from a woman.
Phrasing of concepts and information, listening, and responding are not always strong suits of men in general and when it comes to dealing with women, men in the automotive world are usually less tactful than their white collar counterparts such as surgeons who are trained in proper bedside manner. I’m not insulting men. They’re just different from us gals.
Women helping women has been the path of our success in life. It was true in tribal affairs where women had specific tasks. They assisted each other and accomplished much. In our world today women have few opportunities to assist one another on a daily basis unless we set up groups to join. We lean on our spouses for our contentment and completion of self. Men aren’t able to provide the qualities of female companionship and they never will be able to, because they aren’t women.
So how does all this fit in with the world of automotive? Simple. Women in business who work in the world of automotive repair have a huge edge over men. Women are the major purchasing power in our economy. They make the majority of the buying decisions in every single area of life. Smart men who recognize this as true and factual would be wise to hire women in automotive industries and put them on the front line where the female customer interface occurs.
Automotive women, whether they are doing the physical repairs or not, must have a strong knowledge of the automotive industry they are specializing in. These front line women need to be the ones who are asking the female customer what problem is being experienced, what the customers concerns are, what the customers expectations are for a solution, how much the customer desires to spend to rectify the problem, etc. Once a diagnosis is made these same automotive women need to be the one who explains the situation to the female customer and offers the solutions possible. Why? For several specific reasons.:
1. A woman knows how to speak to another woman.
2. A woman knows how to listen to another woman.
3. A woman understands another woman’s fears and concerns.
4. A woman understands how to help another woman.
5. A woman usually cares more about another woman than a man.
6. A woman usually is able to establish trust with another woman.
7. A woman is able to sell to another woman more readily.
Automotive women are a rarity, but they do exist. Women starting a business have an edge over a man when working for women. It is a great find for a female customer to find another female automotive business owner or partner because she will feel at ease. When a customer feels more at ease they are more receptive to suggestions and more willing to part with their hard earned money.
When I started my windshield repair business with my husband we were in a state of immediacy. We needed money immediately, and I didn’t mean soon, I meant immediately! We had moved from Colorado Springs to Monument, CO to be closer to my husband’s new business associate who had just purchased distribution rights for one of our patented products.
We had bought a nice house with an equally nice payment. We made the decision to buy the house based on the promised salaries we both would be making by helping this man launch the product. The problem arose when this fellow decided he knew it all and didn’t need the inventor of the product or his wife; the two people who were the most personally and emotionally invested in the success of the product he had just bought.
A month after we started working we were both out of our jobs. I was the first to go along with my friend whom I had hired to help me with the marketing. We were both let go the day after my husband I had married! I packed my stuff up at the office, told my husband I was going home, I had been fired!
After I got home I worried about what we would do without my income. He said, “Well, I can teach you how to repair windshields!” I asked, “Is there really any money in it, doing just repair alone?” He said, “Yes, but the biggest problem is getting enough customers to make a living at it.” I said, “Well, I can get the customers. I know how to market and network myself, you just teach me how to do the repairs.”
I talked with my friend. I asked her if she wanted to do windshield repair with me. We discussed a name for our company. I said how about “2 Babes and A Windshield”? I went to getting the paperwork from the state to file our trade name. Then she told me she just couldn’t do it. She really wanted a 9-5 job. I said, “Well, I guess it’s down to the one chick then”. That’s how A Chick and A Windshield was hatched.
By the time I had the trade name filed, business account set up, etc. I was confronted by my husband that he had been fired too! Having the inventor of the product on the premises just wasn’t what the distributor wanted. I asked Tim, “So what are you going to do?” He said, “I was thinking about coming to work for you!” I asked him, “How do you look in a skirt?”
I told Tim I had it all figured out about how to make the windshield repair business work. I told him what I wanted was to bring the mountain to Mohammed. I said, “Women are the ones who always have to get everything done. They are the ones who run the kids around, they do all the repairs, they do all the shopping.” I said “We have to get permission to be at a high profile location where women frequent at least once every week and this thing will work.”
I secured permission from a very forward thinking property manager and told him I would pay rent in arrears. He agreed to my proposal. Tim started cranking out the repairs while I started learning the insurance billing system and handling all the paperwork processing. We were on our way. The magic happened just as I thought it would.
We started helping women take care of their vehicles. We empowered them with education about preventative maintenance for their windshield, knowledge about the windshield industry, insight about how the technology worked, and the relief that it was a woman owned company. Yes, my husband was the one interfacing with them, but he made it known I was the one driving the company. This one fact made the women customers relax. They took a genuine interest in our company. They loved the service and the results they saw. They loved and respected my husband for being a man who supported his wife owning the company. They told all their friends!! We had a winning combination.
It was during this time I had the burning desire to help other women become windshield repair technicians. I knew other women could make a great business for themselves with our technology, mentoring, and support. It was a simple business; no heavy lifting, lucrative, engaging, interesting, unusual, fun, creative, and best of all highly flexible-the one factor every working woman needs to have in her life.
It’s been a long road. We made a lot of mistakes along the way trying different methods of marketing our technology. The one factor always remained. I wanted to help women, help women. So, we have launched our technology on the web for any enterprising woman to purchase. We provide training and support all along the way. We give women the knowledge to succeed, they provide the power behind their dream.
Women helping women be successful is my greatest desire.
Before I met Tim, my second husband, I was a divorced mother of two. I had a 7 year old son and a 9 year old daughter. I had been given some financial support for 2 years. I was on a short financial leash with a time bomb ticking at the end of it. I was working two jobs and getting nowhere fast. I had never pursued a career path when I was married to my first husband because I didn’t have to. He provided for me and the kids. So, I never had developed the know-how of making a living on my own. I had never developed a skill set to command a high paying salary. How was I going to survive? I needed some type of income producing vehicle that was lucrative.
After Tim and I had success with our windshield repair service I had an answer for all the other women who were riding in the same boat I had been in too. A Chick and A Windshield has become a vehicle for helping women in many ways. I have enjoyed my time as President and CEO of the company. I want to help other women develop the same levels of pride in themselves, self esteem, and joy in achieving success that I found for myself. It is my greatest desire to help other women provide for themselves and their families with our technology service business.
Women helping women in the automotive industry is one way I can extend my father’s and grandfather’s legacy. They were men living in a male dominated society. Society trends shift with time and so must the automotive industry. If I can be just a small piece of that shift then I have been an asset to my fellow women and hopefully a bit of an inspiration too.
Women are constantly looking for creative ways to earn an income while juggling the demands of family, home, and other demands. The greatest challenge to women is finding flexibility in their work world allowing them to meet their financial goals as well as their personal goals.
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