"Movin" on up . . . to the North Side!

By Dave Trux

So now that we’re settled into the larger facility that’s right next door to the old shop, people have been asking how things have been going since we moved last December. The answer is simple: AMAZING! Not only did we expand the shop, we expanded our personnel with the addition of a master technician with 16 years of dealership experience.

The feedback we've been getting from a large number of our customers after they first walk through the front door is “Wow, I really love the glass window”! The entire wall between the reception area and the shop is all glass, so now everyone can see directly into the shop. We chose to go with a glass wall because we want you to see what’s going on with your vehicle at all times. If I had a nickel for every time a customer said “I really love the glass windows”, I’d be a rich man.

Our customers have also been pleased with the large and comfortable waiting area, which makes the time go by a little faster. We now have beverages, free Wi-Fi and a nice big flat screen TV to enjoy. We consider the shop an extension of our homes and wanted it to be as clean, warm and comfortable as you would feel if you were in our house, which this place really is to us.

Our service technicians are much more comfortable and working even more efficiently in our new shop. Our entire facility in completely insulated and the lighting is substantially better, with light reflecting from the coated floors in the shop. We believe that happy technicians lead to happy customers.

Mainly, our customers are really impressed and pleased with the grand scope of the entire facility. In a sense, the dust has cleared and its full power ahead with providing the excellent level of customer service that our customers have grown to enjoy and that we expect to provide.

The Godfather of Fitness

By Bob Cox

If you didn’t know that Francois Henri "Jack" LaLanne, was actually born twice, then you really don’t know “Jack”. LaLanne entered the world where Tony Bennett left his heart (San Francisco) on September 26, 1914. His older brother Norman nicknamed him Jack, probably to keep the kids at school from torturing him.

During his childhood, Jack was addicted to sugar and junk food. He had violent episodes directed against himself and others. "I was a miserable goddamn kid...it was like hell," recalled Jack. He actually set his parents' house on fire and attacked his brother with an axe. In addition to having a bad temper, Jack suffered from headaches and bulimia. At age 14, he was so weak his family physician recommended he be removed from school to rest and regain his strength.

The following year, he turned his life around. According to Jack, he was born again after attending a lecture by health food pioneer Paul Bragg. Bragg emphasized the importance of proper health and nutrition, honing in on the "evils of meat and sugar” during his seminar. From that day on, Jack committed himself to a strick daily regimen of nutrition and exercise. “I had to take my lunch alone to the football field to eat so no one would see me eat my raw veggies, whole bread, raisins and nuts. You don’t know the crap I went through”, said Jack.

By the time he was 18, LaLanne was training policemen and firemen in exercise and weightlifting at his home gym. Three years later, he opened one of the nation's first fitness gyms in Oakland, California and even invented a number of exercise machines. In 1955, LaLanne was named Professional Mr. America.

Jack became famous during the early years of television. His futuristic looking one piece jumpsuit and signature “jumping jacks” gave him the persona of a man ahead of his time. A number of cynics felt his show on fitness and nutrition wouldn’t last four months, let alone four decades. He absolutely pummelled his critics as the The Jack LaLanne Show aired in millions of living rooms across America from 1951 to 1985.

LaLanne also achieved a variety of amazing feats of fitness, including: At age 41, he swam from Alcatraz to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco while wearing handcuffs. At age 60, he swam from Alcatraz to Fisherman's Wharf handcuffed, shackled and towing a thousand-pound boat. He saved his most amazing feat for last, when at age 70 while handcuffed and shackled, he towed seventy boats holding seventy people for one and a half miles across Long Beach Harbor!

Among LaLanne's many memorable quotes, my personal favorite was: “I can't die. It would ruin my image.” After 96 extraordinary years, LaLanne passed away from pneumonia, while surrounded by his family in January, 2011.

Inspiration behind iParts

By Bob Cox

Shortly after Alika Salazar celebrated his 13^th birthday, he wanted to be the proud owner of the latest new technological creation: The iPhone from Apple. Alika knew that his parents believed that kids should work for the things they want, so after careful consideration, Alika chose to raise money by selling candy at his school. Over the next several weeks, Alika had raised enough money to buy a used iPhone online.

The big day finally came when Alika excitedly opened the small brown box that came in the mail earlier that day and laid eyes on the item he worked so hard for. As he fired up his newest acquisition, he became alarmed and dismayed when the devise overheated and completely malfunctioned. Since he took the risk and purchased the iPhone used with no warranty, he only had two options: Either try to fix it or throw it away.

Alika solicited the help of his father, who installed drive thru systems at McDonalds etc. and had an electronics background in the navy. From the time he was a small child, Alika loved the days when he got to work with his dad. “I definitely helped him with his work. I was always tinkering with electronic products and interested in how they worked. I couldn't wait until I turned 16, so I could actually go on all the jobs”, Alika recalled.

Together, father and son took the defective phone apart and discovered that the motherboard had been completely fried. When Alika found another phone that had a broken screen for a low price, he raised the money by selling even more candy at school. When he got the new phone with the broken screen, they pulled the motherboard out and placed it into the original phone. After all those setbacks, Alika persevered and finally had the phone of his dreams!

When Alika's dad saw how amazing the new phone was, he knew he had to have one for himself. After they built a phone for his dad, they decided to do the same for their family and friends. They had so much fun working together; they decided to turn their passion into a business. In just six short years, Alika's original misfortune has evolved into a thriving business with stores in Citrus Heights, Vacaville and now Folsom. iParts has thrived because they have helped thousands of consumers save money by fixing their old phones instead of replacing them.

Free Villy in the Shark Tank

By Bob Cox

My wife Diana and I just finished watching another inspiring episode from one of our favorite TV shows called Shark Tank. This is a reality television series that features aspiring entrepreneurs that make business presentations to a panel of five extremely wealthy "shark" investors. The show debuted in August 2009 and has averaged over 6 million viewers an episode, so I guess Diana and I aren't the only people watching this program.

After watching a recently recorded episode, my curiousity got the best of me as I wondered what happened to one of the contestant’s after the show. An entrepreneur named Fleetwood Hicks appeared on the program with his faithful companion Deville (his dog). Together, they successfully convinced not one, but two “sharks” to invest $500,000 into his company called Villy Custom.

Villy Custom is a company that offers people a way to build and create their own custom bicycles through an interactive website. During a recent interview with Rob Merlino, Hicks shared his experiences before and after his 10 minutes of fame on Shark Tank.

Before his swim in the Shark Tank, Hicks got his inspiration from renting a cruiser bicycle along the coast of Southern California while on a business trip. Hick’s idea was to modify a classic cruiser bike with stylish, colorful and personalized accessories. This concept transformed into a reality in 2008. In just two years from opening up his first store in Dallas Texas, Hicks was featured in Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the 100 Most Brilliant Business Ideas for 2010 and his bike sales grew to 350 a year with gross sales of $227,000.

When Hick’s appeared on Shark Tank, Barbara Corcoran and Mark Cuban bit into his idea, hook, line and sinker (pun intended)! They teamed up by co-investing $500,000 for 42% of Hick’s company. They absolutely loved the product and were convinced that the difference between the average sticker price of $650 per bike was reasonable and the average cost per bike ($250) would produce a strong profit margin.

What’s business been like after Shark Tank? “Shark Tank has really stayed with the company as seven out of ten customers tell us they heard about us because of Shark Tank. We've sustained about five times the business we had before we aired and we’re becoming a nationally known brand. We’re in negotiations with a high-end, national sporting goods retailer. We’re going to give them an exclusive to sell the bikes. It was a group business decision, we know we’ll give up some margin, but we think it will be good for branding. As long as Villy Custom continues to grow and make money, it’s all good!”, explained Hicks.

When asked what it was like working with Mark and Barbara, Hick’s replied: “Barbara is much more ‘hands on’ than Mark. I've visited her in New York and at her home. We speak on the phone regularly too. I deal with a team when it comes to Mark. He’s super busy, but very responsive. Both of them continue to be very involved, they’re ‘on it’ all the time and they continue to push me. Barbara has two bikes and she loves them. I offered Mark a couple and he said ‘I don’t have much time for biking, save them for our customers.'”, replied Hicks.

If you have a great idea that you feel passionate about, don’t allow fear and self doubt to stop you in your tracks. Take a page out of Fleetwood Hick's book, dive in headfirst and explore ways to turn your dream into a reality. What’s Hick’s Secret to Success: “I have a passion for making people happy. We make happy bikes for happy people!” said Hicks.

Cupid's Rise to the Top

By Bob Cox

With Valentine’s Day coming to a heart and retail store near you, have you ever wondered how the whole thing began? Me too, so I did a little research (very little) and here’s what I came up with.

St. Valentine's Day began as a celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. A popular account of Saint Valentine of Rome states that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. According to legend, during his imprisonment, he healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius. Before his execution, he wrote her a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell.

Valentines Day was first associated with romantic love during the Middle Ages, when the tradition of courting was commonplace. In 18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion for lovers to express their love for each other by presenting flowers, confectionery and greeting cards. Well, there goes my theory about how Valentine’s Day was named after Rudolph Valentino! Unbeknownst to me, that famous actor during the early years of motion pictures had nothing to do with it. On top of all that, his real name was actually Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla. Now say that three times real fast!

So how did the cute and cuddly little character we all know as Cupid get drug into the business of greeting cards and heart-shaped boxes of chocolates? Perhaps his old lady had a little something to do with it. After all, Cupid is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus in classical mythology. He is also the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. While his Greek counterpart Eros appears in classical Greek art as a slender winged youth during the Hellenistic period, Cupid was increasingly portrayed as a chubby boy. In Cupid’s defense, I challenge you to surround yourself in cases of chocolate with absolutely no adult supervion and see how well you manage your weight and self control!

As the unofficial C.E.O. and icon of Valentine’s Day, Cupid has had his fair share of admirable competitors that have challenged his reign of supremecy over the years, from Rudolph Valentino to Elvis Presley, but alas, the cheerful chubby cherub has managed to rise head and shoulders above the rest. Perhaps it’s all in the wings, and no Red Bull, you won’t get credit for that.

I guess I should be relieved that I was all wrong about the origins of Valentines Day. Otherwise, we might all be forced into saying Happy Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla’s Day!