The Entrepreneurial Addict

The Entrepreneurial Addict | Devin Kelley

For Devin Kelley, successful shop ownership is borne of vision—and strife

The year Devin Kelley’s gross sales increased 300 percent was not, in fact, a good year. ARO was too low and car count too high. Kelley was missing several factors crucial to successfully owning a shop: He lacked infrastructure. He lacked standard operating procedures. He lacked basic guidance on taxation implications.

“It just about ruined me,” he says, “though I’ve always been an entrepreneur. I wasn’t prepared for success.”

He pauses.  “I leveraged that experience for the next endeavor.”

That entrepreneurial experience is exactly how Kelley grew a $1.5 million per year business.

The Sweet, Sticky & Icky

In kindergarten, Kelley had a lemonade stand. Later, he hustled slim packs of gum for quarters and other assorted elementary paraphernalia. He marked up Fruit Stripe and Doublemint at 40 percent each.

As he grew, so did his tastes and hobbies. He’d always been passionate about the motoring life; eventually he found Motocross and went to tech school.

He also developed a substance abuse problem. Running parallel with those issues, however, was that old entrepreneurial spirit. Kelley went to school for motorcycle mechanics, found a job at a dealership and juggled the dual forces controlling his life.

Eventually, he went cold turkey. On everything.

“I got a business license and turned my life around,” he says.

“I wasn’t happy with the cyclical roller coaster. After a few years, my legitimate repair business was growing and I decided the best way to make my life better was to stop the abuse. I did both at the same time. In January 2010, I went downtown to the public library and learned how to get a business license. I went to a government building, put a name on the door, rented a storage unit for $400 per month, took my hoist and toolbox, and did business out of there.”

Kelley’s business thrived. He hired his first employee and grew from there.

Hard Work Makes for a Swift Exit

Kelley bought All-Star Automotive (Columbia, Mo.) from Bob Buchheit in 2018. He attributes much of his success to the atmosphere and culture he’s developed, but not everything came naturally in that regard—he purchased access to Arkansas shop owner Mike Davidson’s Hiring for Keeps program, and has actively sought out mentors in the industry to bounce ideas off of and with whom to look ahead to the future.

“I work hard to understand everyone at an individual level,” he says. “What drives them? What makes them feel successful and valuable?”

How can we build a fulfilling career path?” he asks. “I’m intuitive to that. When I see people being lazy or who aren’t driven, the first thing I think is, ‘They’re not fulfilled—they’re not passionate.’ I ask them, ‘What do you want in life?’ I treat everyone like an entrepreneur, and I never say employee—terms like team are much better.”

Kelley has been known to feature a more intimidating interview program—“People shake, they sweat, they’re nervous”—but he’s not, by nature, an aggressive person. He explains the process as a deep examination, and if prospective employees aren’t happy or motivated, he finds out pretty quickly.

“I’d rather hire someone with zero skills and an awesome personality and perspective,” he says.

In Kelley’s process, the prospective hire gets to interview the shop in a cross examination. The staff tells him what they felt and learned.

Kelley wants to pay forward as much as possible into the industry because he feels the industry did the same for him, enabling his success and supporting the goals of his shop and team. Kelley—like many ambitious entrepreneurs—is the opposite of a black hole. He’s a supernova, drawing energy from the crowd and community and blasting it outward in every direction possible.

Looking ahead, Kelley currently serves as a MWACA chapter officer and plans to become more involved in MWACA and other industry organizations and associations. He has an exit strategy for 2031—sell the shop, and give back as much as possible outside of it.

“I’d love to see MWACA and VISION continue to be progressive and act as a sounding board for people in our industry,” he says.

“People don’t realize the impact they can have until they attend something like VISION. People realize they too can help shape the industry, and there’s a classiness about this organization that makes the industry better.”

Whatever the secret sauce is, Kelley has found it. A recent review of All-Star Automotive on Google from April 2019 speaks for itself:

“I love All-Star Automotive. These guys are actually angels pretending to be ordinary humans. They’re very good at what they do, and when they can’t help they’ll find someone who can. They provide something our world needs so much right now: simple human care and kindness. I am in awe of how they maintain a playful and fun atmosphere while providing such excellent care.” 

Total Integrity| From his earliest days as a gum-slinging entrepreneur at elementary school, Devin Kelley has committed himself to excellence. His shop, All-Star Automotive, fulfills the same promise.