Small Business Stories - Wheelfire

Alex Fees: I'm Alex Fees on Small Business Television; we're coming to you from SEMA 08, that's Specialty Equipment Market Association in Las Vegas and joining me in here now is Jeff Benet. Jeff, I appreciate you being here. Jeff Benet: Nice to meet you. Alex Fees: He is the owner of wheelfire.com, a wheel distributor at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is that right? Jeff Benet: That's right. Alex Fees: Your particular is right here. Now Jeff let's talk about your history first of all; you came from finance, you went into real estate in Florida, then what? Jeff Benet: Well, I started in finance because that's what my major was; I went to school to become a financial adviser. Alex Fees: Okay. Jeff Benet: I got into that business, realized that I was making more money for other people than myself. So, I took a risk and I moved down to South Florida, started doing real estate because I had the connections to make the deals, so I started doing that. The real estate market softened up, so I figured that I had to do something; I figured that it would be best to have a consistent salary coming in rather than going for big deals, which I was doing in the past. So, I started wheelfire.com, which is a wheel distribution company, we started with a single employee and we grew up to what we are now and right now, I think, we're the fourth largest distributor in the country. Alex Fees: Wheel distributor? Jeff Benet: Wheel distributor, which is basically wheel and tire packages, that we are sending out through Internet, via the customers, we have dealerships across the U.S. and we export throughout the Caribbean and Europe as well. Alex Fees: Man. Jeff told me, in his first year he had $1 million of sales, right? Jeff Benet: Our gross sales for one year -- Alex Fees: But it sounds like things are kind of tanked since then -- Jeff Benet: Well, we tried to a little bit better, but unfortunately we hit 6 so far up to date. Alex Fees: Now how did that happen? How do you account for that? Jeff Benet: Advertising, marketing, knowing what I'm doing, buying power, having the right customers, looking the right content, having the customers have a good experience. Basically doing everything that that everyone else is doing wrong. Alex Fees: Well that's a good marketing strategy there. Is this passion of yours, I mean are you doing -- designing wheels or what? Before you got into finance or real estate, what? Jeff Benet: Well cars have always been a huge passion for me. I've always had rims on my car, and it was a no-brainer for me to get into this industry. Another thing I think is important is that, when I moved to South Florida, I noticed that there was a lot of manufactures bringing in wheel. So, I figured it was very simple for me to immediately have the wheels to sell, because they were right of my in my backyard. For instance trying to get in that something that might have been outsourced or driving to somewhere else. So, I thought that was my best opportunity to start my company. Alex Fees: Okay. Now what part of the process, in wheel distributing, if you have, do you design the packages? Jeff Benet: Well, when I started; I was the manager, I was the accountant, I was the sales, I was the shipping, I was everything. But as of right now, I concentrate on the marketing and advertising. I run the website and I oversee to make sure everybody does their job correctly. Because that's another thing, have quality employees doing a quality job so you don't have to worry about it. Alex Fees: I'm guessing, a company with your history has probably captured the attention of SEMA. Jeff Benet: Yeah, we are one of the go to people this year, people asked us to come here specifically. I have brought three employees with me, so we are excited and we've pumped up the '09 year. Alex Fees: Now this is -- were you a part of SEMA '07, during your first year? Jeff Benet: Well, we were always part of SEMA but unrecognized. Because the business is 3-years-old, so we were here last year, but we were just kind of there, nobody know about us. But this year we're here and people know who we are. Alex Fees: Now you mentioned Jeff, overseas markets, how did that come to you? Jeff Benet: You know just going out and finding customers, making business trips. Going out, talking to people, offering unbeatable deals, so worried they had to buy. Doing the right things that people want to make them come back, because if you sell something once that's great, but if you sell something twice or three times, you're making money. Alex Fees: Because so many entrepreneurs and small business owners, they really struggle with that international thing, that's a big deal if they could break into an overseas market. Jeff Benet: Oh, it's definitely risky and I can't say that everything went smooth. We had -- it's been a roller-coaster, up and down, but I try to stay consistent, I don't let highs get to me too, I don't get the lows get to me too low. So, you just try to mainstream and hope that you come out ahead at the end of the day. Alex Fees: I'm guessing a part of that strategy you are taking about is making your website, your company name wheelfire.com. Jeff Benet: Right. That was important. Branding is very important. Now you walk around and you got to a local store; you go to pick of 'Super Street' magazine, 'Sport Compact', 'Truckin' we're a full page stretch in all the magazines, so if you can't find us on the Internet, find us in the stores. If you can't find us in the stores, ask your friends, they have probably heard about it. Alex Fees: It sounds like it. Alright, Jeff thank you very much. Jeff Benet: Thank you Alex Fees: Jeff Benet, the owner of wheelfire.com I'm Alex Fees you're watching small business television coming to you from SEMA'08 in Las Vegas and you're logged on to sbtv.com.