Hi Eric, can you give us a short introduction about yourself?
I was born in Palm Beach Gardens, which makes me a true Florida native. At that time, my family and I lived at Burt Reynold’s ranch in Jupiter Farms. My Dad managed the JH Ranch and trained the racehorses that were owned by Burt Reynolds. He was a successful trainer and one of the horses he trained won the Kentucky Derby.
When and why did you move to Okeechobee?
My family moved to Okeechobee when I was a toddler and that was when my father decided to manage his own ranch. I grew up in Okeechobee and graduated from Okeechobee High School.
Can you tell us about your family and family life?
I married my wife Tabitha 15 years ago and we just had our anniversary. We have 2 beautiful girls, ages 4 and an almost-one year old.
My family life is dedicated to my wife and daughters, and for fun we enjoy camping and fishing in all different waters in our area. Our best times together are when we go to Car Shows, and we have traveled to many states across the country to attend.
My wife and I are deeply rooted into cars, we are true car enthusiasts, and maybe our daughters will be also. We belong to XtremeLowz Car and Truck Club, and we have good times with the activities they
put on.
What do you love about the work you do in your business?
Making sure my customers are happy with the work we perform on their vehicle is my number 1 priority. Seeing a smile on their face when they drive out of my place of business is very gratifying. We try our hardest to please our customers, and it rewards us every day.
When I was a teenager, I learned the real meaning of customer service as a bag boy in our local supermarket. I was taught to always take care of the customer, that I was the last person the customer would see, and I needed to leave them with a good impression. I learned a valuable lesson in my youth.
What makes you proud, is there anything special that you’d like to share with us?
We pride ourselves to help keep our senior drivers safe. We can customize their vehicles for safety, we install back up cameras, blind spot assists, 360-degree cameras, alarm systems. There are many upgrades available that can help them with mobility issues which can often lower their auto insurance rates.
I love modifying a car so that it truly looks like the upgrades belong there, as if no one ever changed a thing in the vehicle, and it was built that way.
You work on all kinds of vehicles; cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, are there any new trends now taking
place in your industry?
There are many new trends I see in this business, especially now with safety devices, high quality stereo systems, mobile video, rear seat entertainment, headrest TV. There are so many upgrade options available now, and new ones come along all the time.
I attend major training classes and sessions to keep up with the changes. One of these is “Knowledge Fest” where they teach us about the new products, customization, installation methods, and management training to be in tune with what’s new in this industry.
What are your future plans?
My close goal is to update the inside front of my store, and to continue to build my business with happy customers. My ultimate goal would be to buy and own my own building one day. My overall goal is to continue to offer the best products and service to my customers as I expand my business.
How do you like to give back to our great community here in Okeechobee?
We hold several events for the kids in Okeechobee, which has been a tradition for years now. We set up these events right here in our parking lot, and it’s fun for us to see how much the kids enjoy themselves.
We have an annual Easter Egg Hunt and for Halloween we have “Trunk or Treat”, both are fun times for the kids.
We hope to once again have our Car Shows, where anyone can show their car, motorcycle, truck, anything that you can drive or ride. We always had a big turnout for this, and we never knew what people would bring in to add to the show.
Our “Drive-In Movie Night” is also on pause for now. We set up an outdoor movie night, a free family event. We are looking forward to having these two events back on the calendar soon.
Follow us on Facebook Custom Sights and Sounds, or Instagram css_of_okeechobee to learn about our upcoming events.
We hope to see you and your family at the next fun event.