Meet AJ Vanek: Co-Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with AJ Vanek and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi AJ, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
The easiest answer is that we’ve always wanted to be our own bosses and make decision on our own. There is something really cool about having full control over your future and the steps needed to reach your goals. On top of that, we felt there was a gap in the market here in Cleveland and we had the team and skills needed to fill it. While this is just the beginning, we are very proud of the progress we have made in the past few years

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
We both started working at a young age, around 15 years old, and bounced through a lot of odd jobs over the years. At one point we were working 2-3 jobs each, at the same time, all during Highschool. We didn’t think anything of it at the time, it was just something we did to fuel our passion for cars. Overtime we realized that we learned how to ‘hustle’ at a young age, something many people aren’t able to learn until much later in life. On top of that, we saw what it was like to operate a small business, make difficult decisions, struggle, succeed and more. Being exposed to that over the years gave us a lot of experience needed to make our jump.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oh boy this is a loaded question lol for the sake of the reader I’ll just list everything out. See an Indians games, check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, have a night out on the Flats, go to Barrio for tacos, visit the West Side Market, get a drink at The Vault (bar in an old bank vault), see a show at Playhouse square and of course go to some local car shows! The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Without our close friends within the car community we wouldn’t be nearly as far as we are today, let alone operating in general. We owe everything to them who somehow looked at us 2 goofy kids and decided we were worth their time of day and go with our ideas. Without them taking that risk, we wouldn’t have any of the opportunities we do today and we will forever be grateful of that

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