By Robert Bravender
How do you define success in the automotive repair industry? Well, longevity is a good gauge. Gary Hoese, for example, founded Gary’s Paint & Body back in 1986. Of course, the Greeneville, Tenn., native had something of a head start; he was 12 when he apprenticed at the elbow of his uncle, 20 when he went out on his own.
“This is all I’ve ever done,” stated Hoese. “I had tried working in a couple different factories after high school, but that just wasn’t for me. I knew a businessman here in town that owned a dealership and some car rental places, and he actually got me started.”
And as he got to know more people, it “just sort of took off from there.”
Any marketing he does now is of the community variety, paying for ads in the high school’s yearbooks, sponsoring their golf events — “stuff to help them raise money.” But longevity isn’t achieved just through time and momentum; Hoese toils hard at …
