Flip’s Co-Owner, Company Find New Opportunities

Acceptance into an exclusive business education program came at the right time for Kristin Dietz. She and her brother had just expanded their tire and auto maintenance shop in Van Nuys and what she had learned so far from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program changed her way of thinking of how to operate Flip’s Tire Center. The long-standing business was tossed into the laps of Dietz and brother Shawn Smith following the death of their father Flip Smith, a popular figure in the San Fernando Valley. When Dietz and Smith took over ownership in summer 2008, the pair lacked the knowledge base to run a small business. “I am now being given that information,” said Dietz, an accountant with a side consulting business in addition to her duties at Flip’s. “I have the means to focus on what is and what is not working.” If having to take over the family business after their father’s death wasn’t difficult enough there was also the worsening recession that reduced the number of vehicles dealers and companies with large fleets sent to Flip’s. To save on overhead, Smith and Dietz downsized by moving out of a 3,000-square-foot space that had been leased in a building on Sepulveda Boulevard. Then two opportunities came the siblings’ way. One was the Goldman Sachs program, of which only 30 people were accepted from the Los Angeles-Long Beach area. Purchase of firm The other was when the owner of Wesco Track and Tire in Van Nuys, one of the largest suppliers of wheels and tires to BMW dealerships in Southern California, was looking to sell. Shawn Smith had worked at Wesco for eight years before joining his father and still had a good relationship with the owner. That gave an inside track when it came time to buy the assets and keep on many of the employees. In June, Flip’s Wesco Tire & Wheel Auto Center opened in the same space that had been vacated earlier. The two businesses combined their logos and Flip’s is honoring the warrantees and guarantees given to Westco’s customers. “We have a good reputation and we wanted to uphold and keep the (Wesco) legacy going,” Smith said. Dietz, meanwhile, had gone to the Valley Economic Development Center for a small loan for her consulting business. It was through the VEDC that she learned of the Goldman Sachs program, which in June started looking for applicants for the business education program offered through Los Angeles City College. Elements of program The 10,000 Small Businesses Program also had Goldman Sachs providing $20 million in lending capital; and offering business advice, technical assistance and networking through community colleges and national and local business organizations. The 11-week education program puts Dietz and the other business owners together for nine hours on a Saturday to learn about developing growth plans. “One of the great byproducts of this is when you put 30 small business people into a room together it is amazing the networking that happens,” Dietz said. Learning from sessions What Dietz heard from the instructors and in the breakout sessions could be applied to Flip’s after the expansion with the Westco assets. Suddenly, Flip’s had tripled in size and had a different customer base than it was used to dealing with. Flip’s was individual vehicle owners and fleets; Wesco is a wholesale business. “Inventory control had become a bigger challenge,” Dietz said. “We did not have a robust system in place.” Automating the inventory system was one of the first changes made at the tire center. Dietz also set about improving workflow as to get customers in and out the doors faster. Smith had hoped that he and one other employee would also be able to attend the business education classes but having his sister there is exciting enough. After all, there is still much more she can pass along. “She has learned more than she has conveyed,” Smith said.