Freedom Glass - Mike Paley

[Brent Deines]

GlassBytes also posted a link to this story on David Rohlfing's blog about Mike Paley of Freedom Glass. Anyone who knows Mike knows he is a shining light in the auto glass industry and an all around good guy. He also takes his windshield repairs seriously, which all of us on this forum like to see in a glass shop owner.

http://davidrohlfingblog.wordpress.com/ ... preneur-2/

[benswindshieldrepair]

This was a great and refreshing read. Though I don't belong to the organizations cited in the reading, I do keep up with their literature and strive for the kind of quality work that Mike provides. I started out not long ago doing only windshield repairs using Delta Kits equipment. I also traveled to Eugene OR for their training. It was the best investment I have ever made. Due to my location being so rural and realizing the demand for a convenient and quality oriented replacement service, I decided to branch out and offer full auto glass service. The Delta Kits equipment and service helped me raise the capital necessary to make this leap and continues to ad exponentially to my bottom line. I was mentored by a shop in Sacramento California (Horizon Glass - moderators if this is violating any rules feel free to omit), and since then I have been operating a full tilt auto glass service out of the back of my pickup truck. Make no mistake, replacing glass is not a task that is to be taken lightly. There is a lot of risk involved and it is not easy work. Furthermore, the quality of glass that I get from my suppliers needs to be constantly monitored due to offshore manufacturing.

Windshield repair should be taken very seriously by anyone venturing into the glass service be it full service or repair only. Certainly, replacing glass might make the bottom line look better month by month (and that's why the 800 lb gorilla does so well), but if you plan on being in business over the course of a decade as an Average Joe without a billion+ dollar company behind you, you better choose your repairs vs replacement wisely and communicate with your customer very clearly at every step along the way. Basically, if it can be repaired, I repair it. The risk is so far less than replacing and the profit is more "pure," if you will. Referrals, after all, be it for replacement or repair, is where it is at in the end. I look at it this way: If you can fix a small percentage of a person's car versus replace a huge percentage of it's overall surface and still maintain the safety of its occupants you will have a happy customer. Happy customers equal lots of other customers for any and all services you provide.

Thanks be to the folks at Delta Kits and to all of you who stay true to standards of quality.

BW

[SGT]

Thanks for sharing Brent. Having had the pleasure of spending time with Mike in Vegas a couple of times, his accomplishment comes as no surpise and is testament to his character. Big claps!

[GLASSTIME]

This is why I'm so passionate and thrilled to be a part of this industry. There is so many "Down to Earth" fellow : techs to look up to and want to follow Chase. I respect individualswhom live by integrity, which might I add is beginningto come far and between in the "Automotive Reconditioning" industry.