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The Deal: SHIRLIE SLACK

November 19, 2008 12:36 am

DESCRIBE YOUR BUSINESS: A 40-year-old family business trying to make a difference by providing people with an easy, pleasant car-buying experience in the Fredericksburg area

EDUCATION: Canadian schools and Melrose High School in Massachusetts

FAMILY: My late husband, Stan, and I had four children. Our oldest son, Rick, died in 1992. My three surviving children are Laurie, Patty and Kirk, each of whom manages a different aspect of the business. I have six grandchildren.

CAREER HISTORY: Stan and I started in the car business working part time for a wholesaler in Fairfax County. Stan worked in accounting; I was "girl Friday" and eventually caught the bug and started buying a couple of cars a week at the local auto auction. In 1968, we started our own wholesale car business on U.S. 1 in Stafford County. In the early 1980s, we started selling retail in Fredericksburg. In 1993, we opened Shirlie Slack Auto Center on U.S. 1. This summer, that changed over to Shirlie Slack Mitsubishi. We now sell new and pre-owned cars.

FIRST JOB: In the accounting department of First National Bank of Boston

WHERE DID YOU GROW UP? Nova Scotia, Canada

HOW DID YOU END UP OWNING YOUR OWN BUSINESS? Auto auction experience and wholesaling cars led me to become a licensed dealer in Virginia.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB NOW? Adding our new Mitsubishi franchise to our successful pre-owned automobile business

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU? Love of life; faith; happy customers

WHAT IS THE KEY TO RUNNING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS? Honesty, integrity, hard work

WHAT'S THE BEST THING ABOUT THE BUSINESS CLIMATE HERE? Our clients. We're located in a small enough area to develop personal relationships with them.

WHAT'S THE WORST? The area is growing so rapidly that we may lose the ability to develop personal relationships with our clients.

WHO IS THE MOST INSPIRATIONAL BUSINESS LEADER YOU KNOW? WHY? Former Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs. He is a decent and honest man who succeeded at working with and motivating people. He took the blame himself when things went awry, respected everyone he came in contact with, maintained a strong work ethic and was open about his faith. I had the privilege of hearing him reflect on his life and work when he was keynote speaker at a national automobile conference.

WHAT DO YOU DO FOR FUN? Read, listen to music, play piano, work out with my personal trainer, hang out with my kids and grandchildren

WHAT'S THE BEST BUSINESS LESSON YOU'VE LEARNED? Provide customer satisfaction at any cost.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OTHERS TRYING TO START A BUSINESS? Realize that as owner you are the hardest-working employee in the group. Don't expect of your employees anything you can't do yourself.

WHAT ARE YOUR CAREER GOALS? To get our new Mitsubishi franchise off the ground by showing our customers that economy doesn't have to be boring or expensive.

ON THE NET: slackmitsubishi.com

--As told to Pamela Gould