The Role: Strategic Partner & Growth Consultant

I was introduced to a local, struggling tyre shop down an alleyway that had stagnated at ~$300k in annual revenue, which only covered outgoings, leaving the owner without a wage. Seeing potential, I offered to consult for two weeks to prove my value.

In that initial period, I cleaned up the shop, designed and created new roadside signage (at my own cost), and refined the sales pitches, pricing, and upselling strategies. This resulted in an immediate increase in sales and average sale value.

With no cash available for payment, we established a profit-share agreement based on gross profit. My role was to drive all aspects of growth, from operations and marketing to supplier negotiation and strategic expansion.

Core Expertise & Services Delivered

Initial Turnaround & Scaling

• Negotiated improved supplier pricing and secured consignment stock for performance wheels and tyres to establish a new market focus.

• Pushed heavily into social media marketing and began attending car shows and race meetings to network and build the brand.

• Convinced the owner to hire his first staff member, freeing him from fitting tyres to focus on sales.

• Quickly established the business as the local "go-to" for performance wheels and tyres.

Strategic Branding & Marketing

• Initiated minor sponsorships for drift and race cars (cost-price tyres, free fitting) in exchange for branding. This led to a massive boost when one of our sponsored drivers won the NZ D1 championship.

• Identified that the tiny, hidden-away shop was a logistical bottleneck and lacked the necessary road-front exposure to grow.

• Pitched, budgeted, and executed a full business relocation to a 400sqm building in a high-traffic, prime location.

• Designed a new logo and brand image, managing a full company rebrand that included all new building signage, and personally executed the complete shop and showroom fitout (excluding wiring).

Market Domination & Community Building

• Leveraged the new momentum to secure sizeable consignment stock from most major suppliers, creating the largest mag wheel showroom and stock holding in New Zealand.

• Negotiated exclusive supply deals for innovative wheel brands and arranged same-day delivery from suppliers.

• Launched a highly successful community-building strategy, hosting regular car meetups with a free BBQ, wheel test fittings, a live DJ, and brand ambassadors, often attracting hundreds of enthusiasts.

• This initiative became so popular it evolved into NZ's third-largest car show, with Platinum Wheels as the main, non-paying sponsor.

• Built such a strong brand reputation that customers would drive from the South Island (over 1000km) to have their cars modified by the team, be featured on our social media, and attend our events.

Diversification & Technical Expertise

• Identified an easy cross-sell opportunity and added performance suspension and a selection of bolt-on performance parts. We developed key relationships with suppliers and vehicle certifiers, becoming the go-to experts for supplying and fitting adjustable performance suspension.

• We positioned the business as the one-stop-shop for car builds—covering wheels, tyres, suspension, bolt-on parts, suspension tuning, and assistance with certification for road legal and race regulations. This culminated in a unique one-day service where clients could, by appointment, have a full setup (wheels, tyres, suspension) supplied, fitted, and certified in a single day.

• Expanded the business model from performance cars into the 4x4 market, supplying and fitting large offroad tyres and suspension lift kits.

• Leveraged my parallel work with Lynchbuilt Engineering Race Car Fabrication, bringing their high-end fabrication expertise and industry connections to Platinum Wheels. This created a strategic partnership where we could send clients for advanced fabrication, often combining promotional efforts and stands at car shows.

• Grew this division into a full performance parts showroom. This was significantly accelerated by negotiating to take over a key supplier's entire stock holding as they exited retail to focus on importing.

• Pushed for and implemented advanced stock control systems and built a full-scale e-commerce store with TradeMe (NZ's eBay) integration, expanding sales of parts, wheels, and tyres nationwide.

• Offered same-day supply and fitment on most sales if ordered before 2 PM, a service unmatched by competitors.

• Oversaw the acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment, including high-end tyre fitting, balancing, and wheel alignment machines.

• Personally trained staff on advanced race car wheel alignment and corner weighting.

• Instituted at-track customer setup, training, and support services.

• Improved the customer experience by adding a waiting room, drinks, customer loan cars, and a local pickup/drop-off service.

Successful Exit

• Drove revenue from a stagnant $300k to over $1.5M+ annually within two years.

• Grew the business to a peak of 8 staff.

• Successfully negotiated my exit from the partnership, receiving a payout and taking ownership of the performance car parts division, which I was the main driver and expert in.