Douglas Lester got his truck and trailer repair business off the ground with a mobile emergency repair service in 2018. Looking to switch to a brick-and-mortar location for his heavy-duty diesel repair shop, Douglas turned to the Virginia Highlands SBDC for advice.

Douglas knows the value of good advice; an early education in truck repair, the catalyst for starting his business career, began with his dad.

“My dad worked on trucks,” he says. “He gave me advice on how to repair and maintain them. Doing repair work has interested me ever since.”

Douglas started a 24-hour emergency roadside repair service in 2018. As that business grew, he began to look for a permanent location.

“There’s a Petro Truck Stop on this exit ramp of Interstate 81, but all they work on is trucks,” Douglas notes. “I saw a need here for both truck and trailer repair. Interstate 81 is always loaded with tractor trailers — that’s one of the reasons we looked at this area.”

Douglas began a search for property and initially found land that he thought he could build on, but later found a building that had been vacant for several years and it was already set up for truck repair. Securing funds for leasing the building became the top priority.

“I knew I couldn’t handle something of that magnitude myself,” Douglas comments. “I started an internet search on Google and found Cindy Fields’ name at the SBDC.”

Cindy, director of the Virginia Highlands SBDC, connected Douglas with the First Virginia Bank and Trust that provided a startup loan, which allowed Lester Truck & Trailer Repair to move into the new building and hire employees.

“Cindy led us through creative financing that allowed us to transition from a mobile service business into a brick-and-mortar location with 54,000 square feet on 17.4 acres,” Douglas adds. “A country boy from Russell County couldn’t have done all that.”

One thing the SBDC suggested they focus heavily on while developing their revenue projections was customer relations with local fleet companies. Now, (those) customers, like the big trucks that travel the interstate, keep rolling in and really have helped us grow sustainable revenues,

Cindy also assisted in setting up advertising with Google and developing a website, which, as Douglas says, “is how customers find us.”

Douglas also took advantage of SBDC’s training seminars. As business started to grow, Cindy assisted with QuickBooks training and a financial statement review.

“Our year-to-date revenue is $1 million,” Douglas says. “In September we hired our seventh employee and are pursuing an SBA loan through First Community Bank to purchase our building.”

Future plans already include expansion of staff and services. “The next step is an evening shift, hiring more techs, and service seven days a week.”

“Cindy worked with us on a five-year plan and a loan development package” he notes.

Douglas sees an optimistic future for Lester Truck & Trailer Repair.

“I would never have known about the SBDC if I hadn’t found Cindy’s name on the internet that day,” he concludes. “We’ve been blessed — and now we have the SBDC to advise us along the way as our business evolves and grows.” Cindy, has been great to work with us. She has guided us throughout the entire process, through the lows and the highs. We can not express our appreciation enough on her behalf!