A Fast Five – Learning to How Balance My Passion With My Livelihood

Hurray! In a few days I will celebrate five years as a small business owner. I often believe I have made it over the hump, but I know enough to never become complacent when moving forward. I hear a lot about “Living the Dream,” but there are some days I wish I had a boss to dump stuff on, weekends and vacation days, and was back on a “Direct Deposit” plan. But yeah, mostly, things are working out the way I had hoped.

While the automobile restoration business may not move at the speeds of the high tech industry, it certainly doesn’t remain static. Marque values fluctuate, the economy ebbs and flows, projects explode, regulations change, and costs and taxes never go down. These are all things I found I needed to pay attention to in order to stay current.

Without a doubt, I have been blessed with talented employees and grateful customers which have allowed us to deliver exceptional cars and grow our reputation as a place to bring work to if you want it done properly. It would be far easier to provide “good enough” work, even when you know it should be superior quality. By delivering best quality, I have found few things more satisfying than having people comment in superlatives when they see our work in person.

“Good enough” wouldn’t get us the same reactions, and won’t be enough to sustain the future reputation of Sport and Specialty which began twenty plus years ago. Without any snide comments from my friends who may playfully disagree, the good news is I’m still young and enthusiastic enough to do this for quite a while.

It’s been an interesting trip in making the move from hobbyist to professional. I am keenly aware of the slippery slope of losing your passion once your passion becomes your livelihood. I have found that an important part of staying passionate, is being passionate. You must also, work, race, and play with others who share your love of vintage sports and collector cars. Without the support of my circle of
long time car friends I might never have even tried this move. I have also been extremely fortunate to have developed new friendships with some of the nicest, most helpful, and sincerely genuine folks ever.

So, basically, I need my talented employees, valued customers, and wonderful friends and family to accept my profound thanks for your support and loyalty over these past five years. I’m looking forward to our new projects and next adventures! I can’t wait to see what the next five bring.

We’ll continue to grow, and I’ll continue to have fun…..All aboard!

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