Today we’d like to introduce you to Hiten Patel.
Hiten, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started out my professional career after college as an analyst at a hedge fund (Citadel) and after a few years of working in the corporate world I decided that I was ready to own my own business. Growing up with parents who were also entrepreneurs, I knew that I also wanted to be an entrepreneur down the road. I have a great passion for cars so when the opportunity to purchase Evanston Car Wash & Detail Center came about, it greatly interested me and ultimately led me to quit my job at Citadel. This was in March of 2014. In the past 3 years since initially purchasing Evanston Car Wash & Detail Center, I have gone onto purchasing 3 more established car washes and now own 4.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Knock on wood overall it has been a smooth road. Being in the service business the two hardest obstacles that arise are unhappy customers and making sure that we have the best staff at all of our locations. All of the locations being full service car wash locations put finding great staff a tough job. Many of our employees have been working at the locations for 5+ years, so making sure that they were happy and taken care of is important. In terms of keeping customers happy it was important that all of our staff are trained to do the best job on customers’ vehicles.
Evanston Car Wash & Detail Center – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
At Evanston Car Wash & Detail we specialize in cleaning customers vehicles all the way from a basic exterior wash to a full detail which takes our staff 3-4 hours to meticulously clean. We are the most proud of the attention to detail that we have here at the car wash, we ensure that every inch of customers vehicles are cleaned. What sets us apart from other car washes is our experienced staff that has been washing cars for many years. The car wash was established in 1951 making it one of the oldest full service car washes in the Chicago land area.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I believe that success comes in various forms. One would be to be able to wake up every morning and doing something that I love, as long as I continue to have that passion, I feel like I have succeeded. Success is not all about the amount of money that you make but rather the freedom that you can create to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Lastly I believe success is achieved by pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and challenging yourself every day to reach goals that will get you to the next level.
Pricing:
- Full Detail starts at $150
- Full Service Car Wash is $9.99
Contact Info:
- Address: 2416 West Dempster Street Evanston IL 60202
- Website: carwashevanston.com
- Phone: 847-866-6444
- Email: hitenp07@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evanstoncarwash/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/EvanstonWash
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